


The Angel of Death

by Reynarius



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Talon Mercy, The metal arm, angst central here, eventual Mercymaker, implied mchanzo, its iconic now, nice, prepare your tears, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2018-09-15 03:45:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 62,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9217148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reynarius/pseuds/Reynarius
Summary: Amélie has been saved by Overwatch, and nearly 3 years after her rescue, she is finally a full-fledged member. However her first mission goes terribly wrong, leaving Angela trapped with no hope of escape and with Talon's soldier closing in on the group, they are forced to leave her behind. When they meet her again, they find she is no longer the same person. She is something far worse. *Heavy angst incoming*





	1. What Have I Done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just the beginning guys, and the angst is just getting started. Prepare for one hell of a story!

The door creaked open, a soldier dressed in black stepped into the room, careful not to make too much noise. Shutting the door behind them before speaking up in a formal voice, “Sir, you requested my presence?”

The room they were in was nearly covered in darkness except for the light coming from the spaces between the window’s drapes, in the center of the room sat a grand desk with only an ash tray, computer and a hand gun sitting on top. Behind it sat a man wearing a dark suit, a cigar sitting between his lips. He remained silent as the soldier approached the desk, the rain pounded on the roof above and a clock ticked loudly in one of the corners of the room.

Nervously, the soldier stood and waited for the man to speak, knowing better than to speak up again. He puffed out a breath of smoke before extinguishing his cigar in the ashtray, his gruff voice becoming the most distinct sound in the room as he spoke at last, “Indeed I did, have the preparations I made been completed yet?”

The soldier gave his boss a firm nod and replied, “Yes sir. The last pieces are in place and the equipment is prepped, what are our orders now?”

The man at the desk looked up, letting out a dark laugh before standing up and ordering, “Find the target, capture them. I want them brought in – alive. Fail to do this and I will personally terminate your contract.”

A hurried nod came from the soldier and they rushed from the room without stopping. The man turned towards the windows of his office, before standing up and uttered, “We will not make the same mistakes this time.”

* * *

Angela stood at the window of her office in Watch Point Gibraltar, crossing her arms over her chest and watching the new recruits, various employees and several of her friends bustle around the base. A soft smile crossed over her face as she watched Lena zip around the recruits and Reinhardt as they worked to unload supply crates from the cargo truck. Genji and Zenyatta sat up on one of the upper platforms, sitting together and meditating in silence.

Her focus was broken when she heard the sharp defined clack of combat boots that steadily grew louder, telling her that whoever was wearing them was heading in her direction. She turned her head when the footsteps stopped and she couldn’t stop the bright smile that spread over her face when she saw who it was.

There standing before her, decked out head to toe in dark blue combat armor was Amélie Lacroix. The taller woman gave her a small smile in return, walking up to the doctor before speaking in a light-hearted tone, “Ah _chérie,_ lost in thought as usual I see. Is everything alright?”

The blonde gave a soft nod, replying as her eyes scanned over Amélie’s new appearance, “Yes I’m alright, just enjoying the peace and quiet that we are so lucky to have right now. You though…you look different.”

Amélie raised an eyebrow and Angela went wide-eyed when she realized how that must have sounded. She stammered out her next words, attempting to correct herself, “It’s a good different, very good! I-I…you look stunning-wait no, I mean… _fuck_.”

The doctor let out a sigh, putting her face in her hands and just shook her head at her own antics. Amélie grinned at the flushed woman standing before her, striding even closer and putting a hand on Angela’s shoulder. She shook the smaller woman lightly and stated with a small laugh, “I know what you _meant,_ Angela. However, I must ask now, have you slept recently? You cannot seem to find your words this afternoon.”

“I can’t recall the last time I slept, a bit of rest could do me some good however.” Angela relented, her shoulders sagging just a bit. It seemed that just from the mere mention of her exhaustion, the doctor felt it creeping into her bones.

The taller woman was about to speak when Winston called out, “Angela! Amélie! Get your gear together, we just got a new mission. We leave in 30.”

Angela let out a soft laugh and stated as she ran a hand through her hair, “So much for getting rest. Now…if you’ll excuse me, Amélie, I must get my Valkyrie suit on. You can report to Winston and I shall meet you down there, there is no need to wait up for me.”

Amélie watched as Angela turned and disappeared into a smaller room attached to her office, it was where she kept her Valkyrie Suit and the Caduceus Staff.

_So, there is no need to wait up?_

_Too bad._

Well that’s exactly what Amélie did, standing patiently in the doctor’s office and waiting for her to finish gathering her things. The woman pacing back and forth, before something brought her feet to a halt in an instant. She stood still, staring at her own reflection in the office window and found herself getting lost in her thoughts as she waited, thinking back to darker times.

_“Hard to believe its been nearly 3 years since Overwatch rescued me from Talon…poor Angela, how difficult it was for her to help me…”_

Amélie ran one of her own hands over her cheek, feeling the soft and more importantly – _warm_ – skin beneath her fingertips. Seeing her own skin, which had lost its blue pigment and returned to its naturally tan color, was so full of life. Everything she was now, it was alive and vibrant, full of emotion and passion. So, _unlike_ what Widowmaker had been.

She hissed slightly as head ached for the briefest of moments, it was a sharp pain that faded as quickly as it began. Shifting from that pain to that of a soft, ache as it faded away at last. Her fingers found her forehead and began rubbing slow gentle circles into the sides of her skull, attempting to get the pain to disappear for good.

_“You’re nothing now though, she made you fade away or…so she thinks. Angela saved Amélie – she saved **me**. Widowmaker is no longer in control, but…you’re not gone, I know you can never truly be gone until Talon is defeated and their activation phrase is forgotten for good.”_

Amélie was suddenly pulled from her thoughts when she hears the clack of Angela’s heels on the floor behind her, the sniper turned and saw Angela emerging from the back room in her Valkyrie armor. The taller woman gazed at her, her eyes looking the doctor up and down before speaking before Angela could even start, “I know you said not to wait up, but I could not let such a wonderful woman wander these halls alone.”

The sniper extended her hand to Angela, bowing to the doctor and she let a smirk replace the smile on her face. Angela felt as a heated blush covered her face, clearing her throat before letting the hand that wasn’t holding onto the Caduceus staff rest in Amélie’s palm.

As soon as Angela’s skin made contact with her own, Amélie interlocked their fingers and pulled Angela towards the door to leave her office. Angela shook her head, giggling softly as she quickened her pace just she could walk next to Amélie. Speaking quietly as they moved through the halls together, “You are far too kind to me, Amélie. I swear. You really did not have to wait.”

“Well, I can’t very well have _my_ best friend, who also happens to be the most talented doctor in the world passing out from exhaustion, now can I?” Amélie quipped back, nudging her friend softly and bringing their interlocked hands up to her lips to press a kiss to the doctor’s hand.

Angela laughed and stated as they walked out onto the landing platform, “Oh no, of course not. That would truly be awful, then you’d have to carry me to the landi- _AMÉLIE!”_

In an instant, Amélie swept Angela up off her feet and lifted her up into her arms with a wicked smirk on her face. Not caring about the questioning looks they were receiving from the nearby recruits. It only took a moment before Angela started laughing harder than Amélie had ever remembered hearing her laugh before, the sound made her heart skip a beat.

“You mean something like this, dear doctor?” The sniper murmured, her smirk never fading from her face as Angela lazily slung her arm around Amélie’s neck and held on tightly, still clutching onto her staff with her free hand.

“Amélie Lacroix, you never fail to surprise me. I’d ask you to put me down, but honestly, I am enjoying this very much so…I think I’ll stay here.” Angela said, smiling softly and looking at Amélie for a moment before looking towards the transport ship as it landed.

Amélie let out a small chuckle and came to a stop near the ramp that lead up onto the transport ship, well out of the way of the recruits who were loading supply crates onto it. She sat the doctor back down on her feet and teased, “We are here anyways, and besides…I would not have let you go even if you had asked me to, _chérie_.”

Angela was about to speak when suddenly a new voice entered the conversation, “And just what exactly are you two fine ladies up to?”

Both women turned around to see Jesse McCree approaching, the cowboy tipping his hat in greeting. Flashing them his usually bright, happy smile. Angela had a smile that matched, running to the man and the pair throwing their arms around each other, laughter erupting from them both.

“Jesse! Its good to have you back safe and sound, how has your time away from base been?” Angela asked the man once they had let go of each other.

“As productive as it could have been, Angie. Just glad to be back with the best family I got left in this world.” Jesse replied, putting an arm around her shoulders and smiling softly.

The two turned towards Amélie who stood there watching them with a smile of her own on her face. Jesse gave a small wave of his hand towards the sniper and spoke kindly, “Howdy, Ms. Lacroix. Its good seeing ya on yer feet again, I assume Winston asked ya both to tag along on this mission?”

“It is good to be back, Jesse. And indeed, he did, we don’t know what’s going on or who else is going along with us, but we will find out.” Amélie replied, crossing her arms over her chest and glancing back at the ship as the recruits finished loading crates on board.

It was at that moment that Lena, Hanzo and Reinhardt approached the trio, all dressed in their gear and talking amongst themselves. Winston came treading after them a moment later and he looked at everyone for a moment, listing names off to himself before he spoke out loud, “Good, everyone’s here – and on time too. Now…I’m sure you’re wondering what this is about.”

He started past them and headed up the ramp into the transport ship, motioning for the others to follow. The group did so, stepping up into the massive common area of the ship and following Winston to the console in the center of the room. The device springing to life as they approached and automatically displaying a 3D map of the globe, placing a marker over Egypt.

“We have received multiple reports from various sources that Talon forces have been sighted in the area around the Temple of Anubis and in large numbers too.” Winston started, gesturing towards the console as various pictures and video feeds appeared before the team.

Amélie stared at the pictures, her eyes stuck onto the Talon crest that appeared. She narrowed her eyes, painful memories resurfacing at the sight of the all too familiar symbol. When she spoke up, her voice was cold and empty, “And do we have any idea _why_ they are there?”

Angela looked worriedly at her friend, noticing the dark, hateful look that had appeared in the woman’s eyes in a split second and she was about to say something but Winston replied before she could even open her mouth, “We have reason to believe they’re looking for something, what that something is however…we don’t know. But whatever they’re doing there, it can’t be good.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and Winston continued as the main doors shut and ship’s engines roared to life, “Your weapons are in those crates over there, collect them and then relax, it will be about 6-7 hours before we reach the Temple of Anubis.”

The team split up and moved to grab their weapons, Amélie stayed back from the group and stood at the console to flip through the pictures and videos of the Talon forces. _Reaper, Sombra…_ they both showed up in the pictures and she let out a soft hiss. Her hands clutched the edge of the console, her breathing getting heavier as her anger grew.

 _“Get a hold of yourself, Lacroix. You’re better than this.”_  Amélie chided at herself, turning away from the console suddenly and running a hand down her face. Knowing she would have to have better control if the two talon operatives were in Egypt. She took a deep breath before moving over to the crates, picking up the large case so neatly labelled, _“A. Lacroix.”_

She picked up the case and took it away from the others, walking up the stairs at the rear of the ship and sitting the case on top of several crates. The sniper ran her hands over the surface, fingers idly tracing her engraved name on the lid. The hesitation in her actions was all too real as she worked up the courage to slide open the locks, her hands now refusing to pull the lid open.

 _“This will be the first time I’ve handled a gun in a combat scenario since…Talon.”_ She thought silently, her stare vacant as it remained glued to the lid of the gun case.

Finally, though, she pushed herself, slowly opening the lid with shaking hands and stared at the rifle, her breath catching in her throat. It looked nothing like the Widow’s Kiss, but at the same time it was the exact same. Amélie took the rifle into her hands, feeling the weight on her arms and the cold steel burning against her fingertips, it only took her a moment to fall victim to memories.

_Falling through the air, but gun still aimed – right for Lena’s chronal accelerator. Widowmaker knew, with great satisfaction, **she would not miss**. She focused down the scope and with a quick pull of the trigger, the bullet launched from rifle and travelled through the air._

_Lena vanished before the bullet hit her, just as Widowmaker had hoped. The bullet continued its path until striking its intended target, Tekhartha Mondatta. The omnic collapsed, lifeless, into the backseat of his escape vehicle._

_She felt the thrill of a damn near perfect kill rush through her veins. Her target was dead and she had done her job._

“Breathe, Lacroix. Breathe.” She murmured in a painful voice, shaking her head to make the memory fade from her mind.

 _In, out, in, out_ – the woman’s breathing carefully followed this pattern as a single finger toyed with the trigger. She checked to make sure the weapon was indeed empty before she lifted the rifle up against her shoulder, peering down into its scope and letting out a soft breath. Her fingers nervously tapping softly against the steel.

_“It’s empty, it can’t hurt anyone right now. You know that.”_

Amélie nodded to herself and rolled her shoulders, lowering the gun and turning her head to look at Angela. The doctor was talking to McCree on the other side of the common area, both wearing big smiles on their faces and laughing about something.

_“It would be so easy to end her life.”_

The sniper froze at her own thoughts, she _did not_ want to hurt Angela.

Or did she?

Without even thinking, Amélie lifted the rifle up, sliding a finger onto the trigger once more and took aim – right at the doctor. The finger that held onto the trigger quivered with hesitation and the sniper shut her eyes, pressing down on the trigger in a quick, sudden movement.

_*click*_

The woman started shaking when she heard the empty gun click, realizing she had done it, actually done it – aimed the gun at her friend and _pulled_ the trigger. She put her weight against the wall as her knees threatened to give out from beneath her, clutching the rifle to her chest with one arm and cupping a hand over her mouth with the other, broken sobs escaping her throat.

 _“I was a fool to think that their work could be undone so easily.”_ She thought, it was thought that consumed her in her moment of grief and fear.

Across the room, Angela sat – _alive_ and none the wiser to what had just happened. Hanzo however had been sitting at the bench with Reinhardt, Lena and several of the other soldiers who were joining them on this mission. He heard Amélie’s faint sobs over the sound of the other’s laughter and idle chatter, he turned his head to look back at her and saw her leaning against the wall.

He immediately stood up from the table and started over towards Angela and Jesse, slinging his bow over his shoulder. Hanzo cleared his throat as he approached and Jesse looked at him, offering a warm smile before asking, “Hey, darlin’, what brings ya back here?”

Hanzo replied in a soft voice, “My apologies for interrupting, but Doctor Ziegler, there is a matter that needs to be brought to your attention immediately.”

“What matter is that?”

“It is best I speak to you about it – in _private._ ”

The doctor frowned for a moment before patting Jesse’s shoulder and standing up from the table. She leaned her staff against the side and followed the archer as he walked a few feet away from Jesse. Her voice full of concern as she asked, “What’s wrong, Hanzo?”

“Amélie Lacroix, she is at the rear of the ship. With her rifle, I believe right now she needs your help doctor. She looked rather distraught.” Hanzo murmured so the others could not overhear his words and make a fuss over the sniper.

Angela’s eyes saddened for a moment before she gave Hanzo a solemn nod and murmured a quick thanks, walking past him towards the end of the ship. Her pace quickened as she picked up on the faint sobs, climbing the stairs to find Amélie sitting on the floor with her head resting against the rifle she clung to.

“Amélie…? _Liebling_ , its Angela.”

The sniper gave no vocal reaction to her voice, instead shaking her head and letting out a harsh breath. Angela carefully stepped forward to kneel next to her friend, reaching a hand out to rest on the shoulder of the woman before her. She offered a gentle squeeze, hoping and  _praying_ it was enough to get Amélie to look at her.

“I killed so many people…with a gun just like this…” Amélie’s voice cracked as she spoke up minutes later.

Angela felt her heart drop when she heard those words, she knew that the woman would never be 100% even after 2 years of healing and recovery but the sound of her voice broke the doctor’s heart. Angela shuffled forward and wrapped her hands around the rifle, gently trying to pry the long range weapon from her hands.

“Amélie, _let go.”_

The taller woman relaxed her fingers and Angela took the gun away, sitting it off to the side before pulling the woman closer. She whispered sweet words over and over, running a hand through the sniper’s hair and feeling as her trembling started to fade, hoping and praying that it was helping at all.

“I want you to listen to me, Amélie. I can’t even begin to understand what horrible things Talon did to you, and I never will. But I do know that you were not in control of yourself, you were a prisoner in your own mind.”

Amélie shook her head and stated through a shaky breath, “But I was still _there_ , Angela…It was still _my_ body that they controlled, _my_ hands that pulled the trigger every time those _bastards_ wanted someone else dead.”

The taller woman moved herself away from the doctor and rose to her feet, the doctor quickly stood as well and her smile grew sad. She watched Amélie pace restlessly back and forth for a while before nervously rubbing the back of her neck and whispering, “Amélie…you didn’t have to become a part of Overwatch, to pick up a rifle again… especially if you didn’t think you were rea-.”

“No, I _had_ to join. Whether I am ready or not.” Amélie cut her off, her voice bitter and cold.

“ _Why?”_

Amélie stopped in her tracks, her eyes glued to the wall in front of her and her shoulders tensing as she thought long and hard. _Why had she agreed to join Overwatch and fight Talon? Of course, there was the element of getting revenge against her captors for what they did to her, but there had to be more…right?_ She took a deep breath at her realization, turning to look Angela in the eye when she finally spoke.

“Because of…Gerard.”

The doctor found herself at a loss for words, Amélie looked away from her and let out a sigh before reaching down to pick up the rifle off the floor. She sat it carefully back in its case, shutting the lid and locking it in place before adding, “If you are worried that I will not be ready for the mission, _don’t be_. I’ll take down every one of those Talon bastards myself if I have to.”

Angela shut her eyes tightly as Amélie stormed past her with the gun case in her hand, her voice had been so dark and cold, radiating in the doctor’s head and cutting into her like a knife. _So much like Widowmaker’s had been._ The doctor shivered as tears silently rolled down her face as she watched her friend move to her own corner and avoid looking at the others.

“ _What have I done to you?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I really tried to write Amélie as realistically as possible, because I know she certainly would never be 100% the same after the horrible stuff she's gone through. Feel free to leave opinions and suggestions!


	2. Ignite

A lone woman stood on top of the buildings near the Temple of Anubis, dressed head to toe in a vibrant purple coat and with hair to match. She watched as a lone ship appeared in the distance, a smirk grew on her face before she pressed two fingers to the comm piece in her ear and spoke, “They’re here, I’m moving to disrupt their _peaceful_ flight.”

“Good, I will get the men into position. Do not screw this up, _Sombra._ ” A gravelly voice came from the other end, making the woman cringe and sigh in annoyance.

Sombra let loose a laugh and she teased once her initial annoyance faded, “Oh _Reaper_ , or wait - should I call you _Gabe?_ Ah either way, I got this covered. The target will be captured as requested, can’t have the big man getting mad at us both _again_.”

There was a horrible snarl that came from her earpiece – making Sombra cringe as Reaper spat out harshly, “Just focus on the mission, we have our orders. Now get to work.”

With that, the line clicked, signaling that it had went dead and Sombra let her hand fall to her hip as she let out an exasperated sigh, rolling her eyes and muttering, “He is no _fun_.”

She spared another look towards the incoming ship before letting out a loud, shrill whistle and jumping down from the roof with her gun in hand, she would _not_ screw this up – on purpose this time anyways. 

* * *

Amélie stood by the cargo doors of the transport ship with her rifle in hand and her side arm locked in place on the holster attached to her side. She stared out at the rolling deserts of Egypt as the ship flew overhead with heavy eyes, listening to the sound of the others talking back and forth with one and other.

Angela stood on the opposite side of the ship, her eyes glued to Amélie. Heavy sadness still hung in her heart from the moment the two had earlier on and she sighed in resignation, she would never know how the poor woman felt. The doctor felt useless, unable to efficiently help her best friend during these dark and terrible moments.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Jesse put a hand on her shoulder, using his free hand to lower the cigar from his lips before speaking, “Angie, darlin’…ya gonna run yourself into the ground with worry if you keep thinking about how much she’s hurtin’ right now.”

The doctor looked at Jesse, her eyes screwing shut as she muttered, “I can’t help her Jesse, I have done all I can for her - physically…but whatever they did to her mind, the reconditioning, that’s something only she’s able to feel and I won’t ever understand. Maybe she will heal with time, but I get the feeling that I only made things worse for her.”

Jesse wrapped an arm around Angela’s shoulders, his eyes saddening at her admittance before he gave a small squeeze and replied, “Angie, please. Don’t go puttin’ that kinda weight on yourself. No one is expectin’ ya to have the answer to all of their problems, and I sure as shit believe that Amélie doesn’t blame ya for not knowin’.”

Angela opened her mouth to argue but Jesse clamped his metal hand over her lips to silence her argument and continued, “She _doesn’t_ blame ya, Angie. And I doubt she’s expectin’ ye to fix her, she knows ye have done yer best. Ye don’t need to suffer what she did to help, just be her friend, darlin’ and I’m sure that’ll be more than enough.”

He lowered his hand from her mouth and she gave him a small smile before turning to look towards Amélie who still stared out the window. Jesse chuckled and pushed her forward, stating, “Go talk to her, Angie. Don’t be shy now.”

Angela huffed but started making away across the common area of the ship towards Amélie but the sniper didn’t show any reaction to the doctor’s presence as she stopped next to her. The smaller woman leaned against her staff and murmured, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Amélie slowly turned her head, amber eyes scanning the doctor’s face before she replied, “Indeed, but I can think of several things far more beautiful than these deserts.”

Heat rose up in Angela's cheeks, a deep flush flooding her cheeks and she was about to open her mouth to respond when suddenly the ship lurched violently to the right. Angela was nearly sent into the floor but Amélie caught her arm, keeping her from falling.

Alarms began to sound and the ship suddenly started spinning around in circles, tumbling around everyone and everything inside like some oversized toy. Amélie clung to the side, holding Angela close to her to keep either of them from getting wounded in the commotion. The pilot cried out from the front, “I’ve lost control, someone’s taken control of the ship. We need t-.”

*CRACK*

A gunshot echoed through the air, cutting the pilot off mid-sentence and moments later, their body came tumbling down from the cockpit. Amélie looked around the ship as she held the doctor tighter against herself, suddenly noticing a flicker of purple through one of the lights.

“It’s Sombra! She’s hacked the ship! Lena, get to the controls and I shall deal with her.” Amélie shouted across the ship to the others who were gripping the side for their lives.

Lena nodded and made a dash for the cockpit as Amélie helped Angela move so she could strap herself into one of the safety seats next to her. The doctor watched as the sniper reached to press the button to open the bay doors, but the smaller woman’s arm snapped out to grab Amélie’s wrist and she questioned in disbelief, “Amélie, just what do you think you’re doing?”

“I have to deal with Sombra, which means I have to get out of the transport ship – while its moving.” Amélie explained bluntly, frowning as she looked from the button to Angela.

The doctor took in a small breath and stated softly as she released the woman’s wrist, “I…alright, just please be careful, Amélie.”

Amélie gave a nod before gripping her rifle and bringing her hand down onto the button. The door began to open and she gripped the wall as hard as she could to avoid getting sucked out by the strong wind. Once the door locked into place, she stepped out onto it slowly but stepped back when she felt some the door shift suddenly. The sniper snarled, pulling down her combat visor and tightened her grip on her rifle as she let herself step out.

The door didn’t shift this time and she let herself breathe out a sigh of relief, looking over the edge of the door and watching as the buildings below grew closer and closer to the ship. She figured there couldn’t be more than 10ft between the edge of the ship and the tallest roof nearby.

“Where are you, Sombra?” She whispered, scanning the streets and buildings below as best she could with the ship spinning around in the air. The motion making her slightly dizzy by now, throwing off her vision.

Suddenly the spinning stopped and Lena called down from the cockpit, “Hey, I got control again! Let’s get this thing landed!”

Angela released herself from her chair as her head stopped spinning, standing before she reached out to put a hand on Amélie’s shoulder. Gently Angela began to coax her back inside the ship. The others making sure nothing had been seriously damaged in the tumble down wards as Angela guided Amélie to her seat.

“Hey _amor_ , looking for me?”

Amélie spun around in an instant just as the infamous hacker uncloaked on the ship's door, her rifle leveled with the woman's skull. Sombra flashed a smirk at the sniper before throwing her translocator off the door and disappearing with it a moment later.

“ _Merde!_ ” Amélie snapped out as she saw Sombra appear on the roof below.

“Come and get me, _chica!_ ” The hacker taunted, waving up at Amélie and winking. Purposely trying to get a reaction out of the sniper, seeing if she could pull Widowmaker to the surface.

Amélie grit her teeth in anger, Sombra was _trying_ to make her angry and she was succeeding at it. Amélie exhaled a harsh breath before rushing from Angela's side and forward across the open door of the ship, leaping from it without a moments hesitation.

Her legs connected with the roof and she rolled forward trying to avoid hurting her body even more, stopping herself just shy of the edge of the roof. Amélie stood up and turned to face Sombra, the hacker wearing an all too proud smirk on her face – that Amélie wanted nothing more than to punch it off of her face.

“What are you smirking about?” Amélie spat out at the hacker, lifting the rifle up and taking aim at Sombra from across the roof.

“It’s good to see, _Widowmaker_ , is still in there. You’ve been a very bad girl, chica. The big man wasn’t too happy when Overwatch got their hands on you.” Sombra taunted as she strolled across the roof, taking slow deliberate steps towards Amélie.

Amélie stepped forward herself, matching Sombra step for step as she quipped back, “Widowmaker is _dead_. I am not her any longer, nor do I care for those _bastards_ at Talon.”

Sombra stopped walker when the end of Amélie’s rifle pressed into her collarbone, she reached up and began tapping her fingers against the steel. She let out a small laugh and snickered, “You and I both know that Widowmaker is still there.”

The hacker nudged the barrel of the rifle away with a quick flick of her hand and with no resistant from Amélie. Sombra dared to step closer before she reached her other hand up to trace along Amélie’s face, purring out in a gentle voice with a wicked look in her eyes, “You _are_ Widowmaker, and you can’t deny it. Come back to Talon, _amor_.”

Before Amélie could react Sombra took the rifle from her hands and tossed it from the building in a series of movements so quick that it left the sniper shocked and without a word to speak.

“All you have to do is let yourself give in, _Widowmaker_. Help us take down Overwatch once and for all.”

It grew silent between the two of them, no words spoken and the only noise that buzzed in the background was the sound of the Overwatch transport ship’s engines winding down. Amélie’s amber eyes suddenly narrowed and she slid her handgun from its holster, pressing the end of the barrel into Sombra’s chin.

“My name is _not_ _Widowmaker_. My name is Amélie Lacroix, and I work for _Overwatch_.” She spat out at the hacker, her voice cold and sharp as she pushed Sombra back a step at a time.

Sombra grinned, leaning in to whisper, "I'm glad to hear it chica, I had to be careful  _they are listening._ Keep with the act please...take a _non-lethal shot if you would_."

Amélie blinked for a moment before pressing the gun harder into Sombra's chin, flashing the hacker a look that showed she understood. Sombra lifted a hand then and pushed the gun aside before turning away. Amélie watched carefully as she walked to the edge of the roof, her voice sounding smug as she spoke, “I am sure the big man will be very disappointed in your choice.”

“You can tell him to go to hell for me, and while you’re at it – _go with him._ ” Amélie shouted, raising her gun again and placing the sights on Sombra’s back.

“I’m sorry to hear that Amélie, and I’m sorry for this too.”

Sombra withdrew her submachine gun, pulling back the slide on the top before she turned and aimed it for Amélie. They both knew what was coming, it was just a matter of not killing each other in the process. Just as Sombra pulled the trigger, Amélie quickly fired two rounds at the hacker - both bullets hitting their mark.

“ _Mierda!_ ” The Spanish curse shot out of Sombra’s mouth as the bullets hit, but it faded as she quickly disappeared, leaving Amélie alone on the roof.

Amélie felt a sharp pain in her side and noticed one of Sombra’s bullets had found their mark, so perhaps they took their little act too far. But at least whoever was watching would suspect nothing. She hissed and turned around to head towards the transport ship.

Using her grappling hook to lower herself to the ground. Below, the rest of her squad had offloaded from the ship and were performing one last check of their equipment when Amélie staggered towards them. Angela was the first to notice and rushed for the sniper, putting a hand on the woman’s shoulder.

“What happened...?”

Amélie let out a shaky breath as she stood upright, explaining, “Sombra happened. She shot me, nothing severe but _merde…_ ”

“Sit down, I’ll get your wound closed.” Angela replied, switching into doctor mode in a split second.

Lena came dashing around the corner, right up to the group of them and stammered in a panicked voice, “Eh, we have Talon soldiers comin’ right for us. No time to relax, luv.”

Reinhardt let out a loud, bellowing laugh at their friend’s panic before he heaved his hammer up onto his shoulder and exclaimed, “Ah let them come! They will not stop us!”

Hanzo turned and looked to Amélie before stating, “Ms. Lacroix and I shall take to higher ground, with any luck, we shall thin their numbers for the rest of you.”

“That’s not going to happen, Amélie is woun-.”

“Doctor Ziegler, please…I can pick them off without having to get close. I just need to find my rifle and then Hanzo and I shall cover the rooftops.”

Angela just sighed and replied, “Fine, do that then. Just…stay safe.”

With that Angela turned and followed Reinhardt, Winston, Lena and McCree as they moved to engage the soldiers ahead. Hanzo moved to stand next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder before speaking, “Let us find where you dropped your rifle, Lacroix. We have work to do.”

They walked down to the left side of the building where Sombra and Amélie had their confrontation, looking everywhere for the rifle in the dirt and grass. It was quiet between them until Hanzo asked, “What are your feelings towards Doctor Ziegler?”

Amélie stopped and looked at the archer, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow at him. They stood there staring for several long moments before it finally clicked in Amélie’s head and she questioned, “McCree put you up to this did he not? He is always so overprotective of her.”

“He may have suggested it to me and why should he not be protective of her, they are like siblings. Why do _you_ avoid the question?” Hanzo mused, playing with his bow’s string with one hand.

Amélie frowned and quipped back, “That’s enough, Shimada. Let’s just find my rifle and kill these Talon bastards.”

She turned to keep walking away from Hanzo when suddenly he whistled at her, Amélie turned on her heel just in time to catch her rifle as he tossed it into her arms. He grinned at the taller woman, pointing up at the top of the building and stated, “Let us get to the roof then, Amélie.”

Both made their way to the roof and got into position’s, Amélie loading her rifle and Hanzo notched an arrow as the enemy forces finally moved into their line of sight.

“I challenge you, Lacroix.”

“Oh, do you, Shimada?”

Hanzo let out a laugh and nodded, firing an arrow before continuing, “Indeed I do, my bow against your rifle…do you accept?”

Amélie went quiet for a second before she smirked at him, reaching her hand up to her scope to adjust it before retorting, “ _Oui_ , let us see whose marksmanship skills are truly the best.”

Down on the battlefield, things were hell. Already Talon had them outnumbered 20-1 and they were bringing the hurt down on the small squad of heroes. Angela did her best keeping the others healed and in the fight, knowing if that they went down so would she.

She witnessed as several of the soldiers fell to the dirt following a series of loud, echoing gunshots. Knowing Amélie was behind them, she shivered at the thought before focusing on boosting Reinhardt as he charged into the soldier’s, swinging his hammer left and right to cut a path through them.

However, she failed to notice the Talon soldier’s sneaking up behind her, their guns raised and aimed right for the back of her head. But someone saw them, rushing down to help. Angela didn’t turn until she heard a strangled breathing coming from directly behind her.

There was Amélie, the sniper had killed the other two men and had a third soldier in her arms with the wire of her grappling hook around his neck. His breathing growing weaker and weaker as Amélie pulled tighter on the wire. She grit her teeth as the man struggling against her finally went limp in her hands. Pulling the wire away from his neck, retracting it as the soldier’s body collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

“Amélie…” Angela murmured, her eyes wide and full of fear. Fear not for herself, but for the woman standing before her.

The sniper wiped blood from her lip and looked at Angela, her eyes cold and almost _lifeless_. Her voice was like a razor as she spoke to the smaller woman, “They deserved it, so please…spare me the pep-talk, doctor. I am a killer.”

Before Angela could even begin to reply, Amélie had grappled herself back up to the roofs above their heads. The loud gunshots erupting from her rifle resumed seconds later as she dropped Talon agent after Talon agent. The sniper withdrew her knife, carving each kill into the edge of the roof, and with each life she took - another notch was added, over and over. Whether it was for the challenge issued by Hanzo, or for some other nefarious reason, Amélie honestly could not say but it chilled her to no end.

Winston’s shout pulled Angela’s focus from the sniper fire and back to the battle, “Angela! Reinhardt is down, I need you to heal him enough for me to get him back to the ship!”

The doctor shot forward with her suits wings, healing Reinhardt with her staff as Winston helped him back to the ship. The scientist calling back to them before disappearing from view, “Clear out who you can and then all of you fallback! We are outnumbered here, our position is hopeless.”

Angela boosted Jesse as he used his peacekeeper to pick off soldier after soldier, Lena zipped around on the field hitting who she could while Hanzo and Amélie’s covering fire from above was still taking down quite a few of Talon's men as well. But it was chaos, a hectic mess of bullets and fire, shouting back and forth to each other. Angela wasn't even sure _who_ was shouting anymore.

“Thanks Angie, yer doing real good. We’re giving these bastards a run for their money.” Jesse encouraged as he shot another Talon soldier right in the head.

Suddenly on the far side of the battlefield, Reaper materialized from seemingly the shadows themselves and he stared at Angela and Jesse. While they could not see his eyes, they felt his gaze burning into their skin and full of anger and hate. Both stopped in their tracks, watching as he pulled his shotguns from his coat and let out a laugh, dark and cold.

“ _Oh no…_ ” Jesse began, taking a slight step back so he and Angela were side by side.

Lena dashed over to the two, panicked and tugging frantically at McCree’s arm. Angela looked at Jesse and Lena before ordering, “Jesse, Lena…we need to run back to the ship. We can’t fight him and these other soldiers.”

Above, Amélie and Hanzo packed up their weapons to fallback and were prepared to leave when the sniper caught a glance of a laser sight out of the corner of her eye. She quickly turned and saw below that a Talon soldier was equipped with a missile launcher, the large piece of weaponry aimed for the building directly right next to…

 _“Angela…”_ She rasped out, panic flooding through her.

Amélie withdrew her rifle as fast as she could, peering down the scope and aiming directly for the man’s head. She snarled, trying to relax her shaking hands and when she lined up the shot - she pulled the trigger. A satisfying crack came from the weapon and she lowered the gun immediately after firing and waited for the man to drop.

But he did not.

_She had missed._

Amélie went wide eyed in horror, realizing her mistake far before she rushed to the edge of the roof on her right and shouting down at the others below in a frantic voice, “Angela, RUN!”

Lena and Jesse moved immediately, running for the transport as fast as they could and Angela followed, but she moved a second too late. The missile shot forward and struck the building, sending the doctor to the ground and the building collapsed, dust clouding Amélie’s vision.

She jumped down from the building in an instant without using her grappling hook, her knees buckling under the force of hitting the ground. The sniper grunted in pain, struggling to her feet before she ran forward towards the rubble through the fading dust cloud. 

There, trapped under the edge of the rubble lay Angela. The doctor’s lay face up, staring at the sky, her legs and her right arm trapped under heavy bricks of stone. Amélie dropped to her knees next to Angela’s head, pulling the doctor up enough to rest her head in the sniper’s lap.

“Angela, can you hear me?”

The doctor nodded weakly in response unable to find her words and let out a harsh cough. Her whole body was shaking as Amélie gently brushed dirt from her face. The taller woman looked up at the rubble before speaking softly, “Alright, lets get you out of here, _chérie_.”

She began to tug on the doctor, hoping the rubble wouldn’t be nearly as heavy as it looked. Angela choked back a cry of pain as Amélie pushed on the stone, stammering out, “Amélie…p-please…stop. It h-hurts…too m-much."

There was a gunshot and Amélie immediately ducked her head down below the line of rubble as a bullet whizzed by. Still she was desperately trying to push the heavy stone away from Angela so she could free her. An aching pain began to fill her chest as the stones refused to move but she forced it down and cursed, “ _Merde, merde…_ it will not budge!”

Angela put a hand on the sniper’s face, forcing their eyes to meet. The doctor took another harsh breath as a second gunshot echoed through the air, Amélie jumped by Angela spoke, her voice weakening, “Amélie, you need…t-to let me go…”

Amélie went wide-eyed, shaking her head frantically and replying stubbornly, “I am not doing that, Angela.”

“Talon…they’ll turn you into Widowmaker again, p-please…”

The sniper cupped Angela’s face in her hands and whispered an all too familiar set of words, _“I would not let you go even if you had asked me to, chérie.”_

Angela let out a strangled sob, remembering those words and she murmured weakly, “I’m b-begging you, Amélie…go n-now, before T-talon hurts you again…”

It was at that moment that Jesse, Hanzo and Lena rushed back over, grabbing Amélie but she fought against them, clinging to the doctor and yelling, “Let me go! We can help her!”

Jesse sounded heartbroken when he spoke, his words cracking, “Amélie, we’re surrounded, we have no time!”

“We will _MAKE_ time!” She spat back, still struggling against the 3 who were pleading with her to leave.

Angela whispered softly, tracing circles on Amélie's face, “Do not cry, _liebling._ I will be at peace before they get me…a-and…”

She coughed hard, blood seeping from the corner of her lips before trying to continue speaking, “I…l-lo…”

More gunshots cut off the doctor, and sent her into a fit of coughs and gasps, struggling to breathe in air. The heavy boots of the Talon soldiers echoed through the ground and they grew louder and louder with each passing second. Amélie shaking with each rumble through the earth beneath her feet, she would  _not_ let Angela die like this.

“I’m sorry, but we have to go. I’m so sorry, Angela.” Lena pleaded, the 3 working together to pull Amélie away from Angela.

“Shh…j-just get her away from here… _please_.”

Amélie clung to Angela, her hands gripping the woman’s armor as tight as she could. The pain she forced down in her chest grew so fiercely and she was begging whatever god above that would listen to save Angela from this horrible fate - but it was hopeless. The doctor purred softly to Amélie in her moment of distress, her fingers tracing along her jaws and lips gently before she whispered, “ _Whatever you do, p-please…never forget me, Amélie Lacroix.”_

She let out a cry as the combined strength of the three others finally got her pulled up to her feet and they began dragging her back towards the transport ship. She fought against them, kicked and screamed as she saw the Talon soldier’s coming over the rubble towards a defenseless Angela, “ _Bastards! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill every one of you with my bare hands if you lay a hand on her. I swear it!_ ”

Reaper and Sombra appeared atop the rubble, mere feet from where Angela lay bleeding. The hacker had a blank look on her face as she stood there gripping her wounds from earlier, but Reaper laughed and it echoed into Amélie’s chest, shaking her very being.

“ANGELA!” The scream ripped itself from her throat as she was pulled into the transport ship, leaving behind one of her closest friends with the Talon forces surrounding them.

 Angela watched as the ship took off and sped away, tears in her eyes as Amélie’s screams still ringing in her ears as Sombra knelt down next to her head. She met the hacker’s gaze as Sombra pressed a finger to her earpiece before speaking, something off in the way her voice sounded, “We have captured the target alive, bringing her in now.”

Reaper’s voice cut in and filled her ears as darkness overtook her vision, “We have plans for you, _Doctor Ziegler_.”

* * *

 

When the darkness faded, Angela found that her eyes were filled with a blinding neon purple light that caused her eyes to sting and pulse in pain. She blinked several times, clearing the blurry vision and pain. She saw that the purple lights were above her head but they just barely illuminated the dark room around her.

"W-what...w-where..." She muttered, panic filling her weakened voice.

She tried to shift her aching body but found herself unable to move, she sucked in a shaky breath and felt ice cold air fill her lungs. A sharp, stinging pain immediately shooting through her body at the sensation, coaxing a soft cry from the doctor.

Angela looked down at herself and her eyes widened, she was suspended in mid-air, in the center of a near pitch-black room. A tangle of metal beams and arms held her body in place. Sensation slowly returned to her nerves and she felt the strange mask over her mouth, the IV’s pierced into her arms and the many wires connected to her face and neck.

Trying to wiggle her fingers, she found that only her left arm responded. Looking to her right, she choked back a sob as she saw her right arm simply  _wasn’t there -_ but how had she lost it? She couldn't remember. The doctor struggled and rasped for air over and over, shaking as the cold air nipped at her exposed skin.

“Amélie…? _Liebling_ … _w-where are you?_ ”

“Ms. Lacroix is not here, Doctor Ziegler. Unfortunately, she is safe with your allies somewhere. But we have you and that will suffice for now.” A voice spoke up from somewhere in the room.

Angela felt cold tears pouring from her eyes, not in sadness but in _relief_. Amélie was safe and she was _far, far_ away from the horrors of Talon – the sniper would be free from their grasp for good.

“W-what are you going to do…to m-me?” Angela rasped out at the shadows, the figure still not yet visible to her eyes.

A laugh echoed out into the room, reverberating off the walls and making Angela’s head pound. The fading and the dark voice jeering at the woman, “ _Oh so much, dear doctor. So much.”_

Loud footsteps filled the room, moving away from Angela before that same voice ordered to someone else that Angela could not see, “Begin the first phase of mental reconditioning. I will not tolerate mistakes this time, men. _Show_ _no mercy_.”

The heavy door slammed shut with the thundering sound of metal against metal and all that could be heard in the darkness was the sound of terrible, pained screams that didn’t cease. They were a wordless, desperate plea.

A plea for salvation.

For mercy.

_For Amélie._

            

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> h o l y  
> s h i t  
> im so EVIL  
> forgive me ;-;


	3. What A Wicked Game We Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Sometimes the things you thought were real, turn out to be a lie - a dream you made up to keep yourself from your reality.  
> And other times, the reality you are faced with, is too much to bear and you want nothing more than for it to be a dream."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for the pain you are all likely about to experience :')

Angela shivered as she woke, her eyes opening slowly. Blinding sunlight was there to greet her and she groaned, shutting her eyes again and burying her face into the pillow beneath her head.

_Wait,_

_Why was there a pillow beneath her head?_

She lifted her head once again, running her hands across the sheets draped over her bare form, suddenly she got a sense of the world around her. Angela was in her room, in her _bed_ at the Overwatch headquarters. _She was not in Talon’s grasp at all, not bound by their wicked machines and she felt no pain._

“I’m…safe?” Angela mused, bringing the edge of the sheets up to her face and inhaling the scent deeply.

_They smelled like home…_

A much kinder thought passed through her head then, sending a wave of relief through her body and a smile crept onto her face. She nuzzled her face further into the soft sheets, reveling in how comfortable and warm she was then.

 _“It was just a dream…”_ Angela said softly, a gentle laugh bubbling out of her throat.

Suddenly there was a slow movement behind her on the bed, she took in a sharp breath as she felt a slender arm sling around her waist and tug her back into the body of her bed companion. The thin sheets twisting as she was pulled closer until Angela felt skin on skin, the lithe curves and breasts of another woman pressing into her back.

_Who was in her bed??_

“Mmm _,_ _tu es reveille, chérie_.” An all too familiar voice and its _very_ distinct french accent chimed up, answering her question as if on cue.

 _“Amélie…”_ Angela gasped out, earning a musical laugh from the woman behind her and it made her heart ache with adoration.

“I am not even doing anything to you and already you are saying my name like _that_. Did you not get enough of saying it _last night_?” Amélie cooed in the doctor’s ear, bringing the hand she had slung over the smaller woman’s waist up to brush through the fine blonde hair.

Angela carefully rolled over to face Amélie, bringing trembling hands up to the french woman’s cheeks and gasping yet again when she felt _real_ skin beneath her fingertips. This was _real_ , Amélie was _real_ and was alive next to her – _Talon_ ’ _s_ _torture had just been a dream._ Concern knit across the taller woman’s expression and she murmured as the doctor’s fingers traced every line and feature of her face, “Angela? Your hands are shaking, _mon amour_ , is everything alright?”

“You…oh _gott_ , you… _are so beautiful_ , Amélie.” Angela whispered, leaning closer to press her forehead to the sniper’s and cupping her face gently.

Amélie let out a soft laugh, bringing the hand she had trapped under herself up to trace a thumb across the doctor’s lips and her other hand slid around her lover’s waist to force them closer. Angela felt herself shiver at the contact and the closeness to Amélie, memories of an intimate night full of passion spent with the woman next to her flooded her head.

 _Gentle hands tracing along the curve of her body, down to the swell of her hipbones. A soft, musical voice whispering words of love and affection meant to be shared only between lovers. A pleasure, electric – addictive, coursing through every nerve in her body as Amélie worked to feed the fire raging in the pit of her stomach_.

_But Amélie’s touch upon her body was like gasoline, each touch merely adding more and more fuel onto the doctor’s heated skin. Angela all too gladly to let herself go down in flame, dragging the taller woman with her._

A small, shaky breath escaped her and she _swore_ she was relieving every vivid moment of their night together. Amélie purred at the sight before her and murmured lovingly, “Remembering last night, are we?”

Angela nodded slowly in response - unable to find her words in that moment, Amélie chuckled and rolled the doctor onto her back. Her smile never once fading as she leaned down to whisper, “Remember it going something like this…?”

 _“Oh gott, I love this woman…so much.”_ The doctor thought to herself as Amélie dipped her head down to trail kisses slowly along Angela’s jaw and down her neck, pulling a low moan from the smaller woman.

Amélie stopped what she was doing, her smile changing to a grin before she lifted her head to look at Angela and questioned, “I don’t suppose you’d like any breakfast, _chérie?”_

As if on cue, a low rumble came from Angela’s stomach and she let out a warm laugh, wrapping her arms around Amélie’s neck. She pressed a kiss to the taller woman’s lips and replied with smirk, “Well since you are so kind to offer it, I will gladly take you up on it… _Ms. Lacroix_.”

“It will only take a moment. I’ll have coffee made for you in a few minutes, _Doctor Ziegler._ ” The sniper quipped back, a smirk of her own flashing at the woman beneath her. Amélie slid off Angela, over to her own side of the bed and carefully stood up.

Angela sat up, watching Amélie stop and pick up the doctor’s shirt from where it was thrown onto the floor. The taller woman looked back at her, the smirk on her face never fading as she tugged the shirt on over her head and strolled out to the kitchen.

Noises came from the kitchen as the doctor swung her legs off the side of the bed, taking a moment to run a hand down her face and clear the fading memories of the nightmare from her mind.

She felt a hand on her shoulder seconds later, turning her head to see Amélie standing there with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand and a worried look on her face. Angela’s face went blank and she thought to herself, _“She can’t have made the coffee that fast…she only just left…”_

The doctor shook the thought away and turned to face Amélie, taking the mug from her hands and letting herself have a small sip of coffee as the taller woman explained, “You hadn’t come out of the room yet so I thought I would bring your coffee in for you. Take your time, breakfast is nearly done.”

A kiss was pressed to her forehead before Amélie left the room once again, Angela frowned – still puzzled how Amélie had made coffee _and_ breakfast so quickly. But once more she pushed those thoughts away and stood up from the bed with her mug in hand.

She grabbed the grey button up shirt off the floor and threw it on, grabbing a hair elastic from her dresser as she slowly moved out of her bedroom and into the small kitchen where the delicious smell of breakfast was coming from.

Amélie looked up from dishing out food to see Angela wearing her shirt and stated as the doctor sat down at the kitchen island, “ _Chérie…_ Honestly, I absolutely _adore_ seeing you in my shirt.”

“Perhaps I should wear it more often then?” Angela questioned as tied her hair up into a messy ponytail before picking up her coffee mug and bringing it up to her lips for another sip.

The sniper sat breakfast down in front of Angela, leaning down to steal a quick kiss from the lovely doctor. Her lips lingered on the smaller woman’s own for a moment before she pulled back to reply lovingly, “I would enjoy that very much so, but I do also prefer it not being on you _at all_ , _mon amour._ ”

A laugh came from Angela at the remark and she playfully nudged the sniper with her arm when Amélie sat down next to her. Together, the two sat there enjoying their breakfast and leaning into each other. Angela found her mind wandering farther and farther from the thoughts of her nightmare.

“I must ask Angela…”

The doctor looked up at the taller woman as their dishes were placed into the sink, raising a curious eyebrow before questioning, “Ask me what, _liebling?_ ”

“Are you alright, _chérie_? You been acting…strange all morning, does something trouble you?” Amélie asked as she trailed a hand down from Angela’s shoulder and lightly down her arm, watching the doctor closely.

It grew quiet between them for a moment until Angela let out a heavy sigh and admitted as she moved to sit herself on the couch, “I…I had a really _vivid_ nightmare – or at least, I _think_ it was a nightmare.”

Amélie moved over and sat next to her, reaching to take the smaller woman’s hand. A short laugh came from Angela, her eye refusing to meet the sniper’s as she continued speaking, “I don’t know what it was…but Talon took me, after a mission went wrong. They did _horrible_ , _horrible_ things to me.”

A hand clasped her chin and Amélie made the doctor’s gaze meet her own, Angela swallowed hard and her voice steadily faded as she finished, “But I woke up. And I was here, in my bed, _next to you_. But I _swear_ , everything felt so _real_.”

The doctor shifted closer to Amélie, yearning for comfort. Suddenly she stopped moving completely, the very breath she drew in caught in her throat and her eyes stared at the skin on her right arm in horror. A blackened ink of sorts began to trace a web like pattern into her skin, and written there in the middle of the webs was a word, one that burned into her mind and heart – one she would never forget.

 _“Cauchemar…”_ The french word fell from the doctor’s lips; her left hand shook violently as she brought it up to idly trace along the lines. Feeling that they were indeed _real._

She lifted her gaze to Amélie’s to find the woman tearing up, her voice cracking as she explained, “ _Chérie_ , I wish I could tell you that this was all real and that your nightmare was just that – _a nightmare_.”

A deep exhale came from her and she continued, “But this right now – this room, this day… _me_. _None of it is real.”_

Angela felt a knot of pain instantly form in her chest and she choked back tears, shaking her head and stammering, “No, i-it can’t be…it just _can’t_ be. Amélie, _please…*please*_ tell me that you’re lying, that this is some sort of sick joke.”

Soft hands found their way onto the doctor’s cheeks, wiping away the tears that pooled at her eyes and fell down pale cheeks. Angela found herself letting her head rest in those hands, _knowing they weren’t real_.

Amélie’s voice intruded into her thoughts, so gentle and sweet as she replied, “I do not lie, _chérie._ ”

“Then…can you tell me, what’s happening right now? Why?” Angela pleaded, inhaling sharply to force down a sob that was threatening to spill out of her throat.

The taller woman nodded firmly, lowering her hands to take the doctor’s. She offered small reassuring squeezes and explained, “Your nightmare, every part of it that you _thought_ you had experienced. _It is your reality_ _right now_.”

She swiped her thumb gently over Angela’s hand, seeing the doctor swallow hard and watch her blink away tears that undoubtedly stung her eyes. A soft, shaky breath came out of her and Amélie began speaking once again, “The pain that Talon has put you through was too much for you to bear, you screamed and screamed. And you didn’t stop…until your voice gave out.”

Her amber eyes lifted until they met teary, bloodshot sapphire ones. Amélie brought a hand to the doctor’s face and her voice was heavy with sadness as she finished, “To protect yourself, you retreated deep inside your own head…into _this_ fantasy with me – or rather _Amélie_. You want this dream to be your reality, but you know _it can’t be_. So, it remains as the safe place inside your mind, whether you have chosen to remember it or not.”

Angela found herself gasping as the pain in her throat grew to be too much and she let out a strangled sob, harder and harder with each passing second. Amélie moved in and cradled the doctor in her arms, whispering sweet words to Angela.

“ _Chérie_ …we do not have much time left, Talon is getting closer to breaking through. Soon they will tear you from this dream without remorse, and you will forget it all – _they will make you forget it all._ Overwatch, your friends… _the real Amélie Lacroix_. Soon they will mean nothing to you and you will be left as a hollow shell, another one of Talon’s puppets.”

Angela’s grip tightened on the sniper as if she was trying to keep the woman from fading away - from becoming a dream. Amélie held her just as tight and listened as the doctor's voice grew desperate through her tear, pleading with the taller woman, “Amélie, _please_ , don’t let them take me away…I can’t lose anyone. _I can't lose you._  Don’t let them take you away from me. _”_

Panic filled the doctor’s chest as the words left her mouth, she could barely catch her breath – her sobs making her throat and chest ache and pound in time with her racing heart. She clung to Amélie for dear life, feeling as her eyes grew heavier and heavier with each moment that passed by while she sat there with the sniper.

_This was it._

_Talon was almost here._

_And there was no where left to run_.

“ _Liebling_ …my eyes, th-they feel so heavy…” She murmured weakly, struggling to keep her eyes open and on Amélie’s.

Soft kisses were pressed to her cheeks and forehead, but Angela felt nothing. There was no sensation of touch, her skin felt ice cold and she let out another gasp as Amélie whispered to her, “It’s because they are pulling you back, _chérie…_ do not fight it, it will only make your pain worse.”

The doctor no longer had the strength to cry, she only clung to Amélie. Clung to her like she was an anchor in the storm, holding her into this moment.

" _Amélie_..."

Angela shut her eyes tightly, choking back a sob as she begged in one last attempt to save herself, “ _Don’t let them take me…I don’t want this.”_

Darkness began slipping into her vision, clouding her sight and pulling this dream world away piece by piece. It was almost over, _she was almost gone_. But Amélie's voice murmured one final thing to her before she slipped away entirely, “No matter what happens, no matter what they do _…never forget me, Angela Ziegler.”_

_I won-_

Her eyes shot open a split second later and the doctor found herself floating in a clear glass tube, the liquid surrounding her was noticeably blue and felt ice cold. But she wasn’t sure if it was the unknown liquid that was cold, or if it was her own body. It only took a second before she heard alarms begin to sound from outside her containment unit, the noise muffled but still audible to her.

Lifting her head, Angela saw two Talon workers in a small office in the wall, both staring at her with wide eyes and behind them stood a man in a dark suit. Panic spreads through her in an instant, her heart beat quickens and her breathing speeds up. She pounds desperately against the glass, remembering words ushered to her in a dream. This place, these people… _this was her reality now_.

_And she didn’t want it – at all._

_“She is not supposed to be awake, you imbeciles! Check your calculations again!”_

_They were panicking._

_She wasn’t supposed to wake up during this process._

She heard the man in the suit shout as the two workers furiously typed at the console in front of them. Air bubbles slipped out of her mask as she screamed, screamed for Overwatch, for her friends, _for Amélie._ But no sound escaped her body and it never reached the ears of the Talon men. So, harder and harder she hit the glass, hoping – _begging_ – for the glass to crack and give way so she might be free.

_No one would hear her fear._

_And no one would care._

_“Put her to sleep, quickly!”_ The man in the suit shouted, his voice obviously furious.

_“Sir, we need to load an additional dosage into the machine before we can do that!”_

_“I don’t care what you have to do, just DO IT.”_

Angela suddenly gasped as a purple liquid began to pump into the IV’s stuck in her arms and the others connected into her neck, she felt the effects hit her immediately.

_What have they done to me?_

_“Sir! The third stage has begun, we have to get her to sleep now!”_

_Third stage…?_

_What was tha-_

Her thought was cut off mind sentence when the drug got to work, a sharp pain – hurting more than any wound she ever sustained shot through her body. A scream would have made its way from her lips, _if she was even able to scream anymore_.

_Make it stop…someone make this pain ST-_

Suddenly the thought ceased to be, she tried desperately to recall what she was thinking about just then but it _wasn’t_ there, she tried to scream – anything to resist Talon. She weakly pounded against the glass, her attempts at fighting them faded into nothing as the drugs being pumped into her system weakened her.

With each second that passed, pieces of her memory faded. Memories of Overwatch, of happier times spent with Gabe, Ana and the others. The time Ana taught her how to first handle her blaster, or listening to Gabe tell her and Jesse wild stories about his life. Cherished times full of laughter and smiles were ripped from her head in an instant and without any piece left.

_No, no…please stop this!_

Everything was fading and Angela was struggling hold close the dearest memories so she did not lose them too, what memories she had about her own parents before they died - _The first time she had met Amélie_. She couldn’t even cry, everything was so cold and numb yet it hurt all at the same time. Grief’s ache held in her chest, and refused to let go, leaving only desolation and agony in Angela’s heart.

 _“Amélie, I’m so sorry…please forgive me.”_ The doctor thought to herself in resignation, shutting her eyes and feeling as piece by piece, her memory was violently torn from her mind.

And then finally, the memory of Amélie was _gone._

_Amélie...:_

  _T_ _hat beautiful woman who did nothing but flirt with her from the first moment they met, but who also showed nothing but love and respect for the doctor where others had given her a hard time._

_The woman who spent every waking hour trying to get her to sleep for once and “Leave work be.”_

The memory of that woman, _that Amélie Lacroix_ – was ripped from her without any mercy. And once the pain had faded, she merely opened her eyes and watched as the workers began injecting another drug into the IV tubes outside the containment unit. Her blue eyes blank and empty – devoid of any sort of light as she watched them inject an exact dosage that would end up in her bloodstream in seconds.

The man in the suit spoke up as she felt herself being lulled into an unconscious state as the new drugs finally hit their mark, “Do you know who you are?”

 _“Yes…wait, no…Who am I?”_ The doctor thought to herself, only offering the man a small shake of her head as she grew weaker and weaker. But no matter how weak she was, the wicked smirk on the man’s face unsettled her to the very core.

“Do you know Amélie Lacroix?” His voice cut off her thoughts yet again.

Silence passed as Angela just stared at him in blatant confusion, it was no name that she knew of. There was not a trace of it in her mind and so she shook her head. The laugh he let loose from his throat would have been sickening – if the doctor could figure out why the hell this man was laughing.

_Who are these people?_

_What are they doing to me?_

_…. Who is Amélie Lacroix?_

* * *

 

_Days?_

_Weeks?_

Amélie wasn’t sure how long it had been, one hour faded into two and the pain that had taken hold in her chest the day she lost Angela had long since morphed into a numb feeling that spread throughout her body. She felt nothing, yet _everything_ all at the same time and her poor brain was rattled and confused.

Winston and the others learned quickly to leave her where she was in Angela’s room, spending most days sitting in a chair by the bedroom window and just watching everyone shuffle around the base. Some day’s though, they would find her sitting in the doctor’s office, just sitting in the chair and staring at the files still spread out on her desk – still in the same position she had left them in on the day they left for the mission.

Today, she sat in Angela’s bedroom and just stared out the window towards the ocean. In one hand, she clutched a picture of her and the dear doctor from years before the fall of Overwatch. But she did not look at it, instead choosing to watch the waves that battered the shores because of the nasty storm roaring through the air outside.

She swirled the dark alcohol in her glass before throwing it back, downing the remainder of the glass in one gulp. Barely feeling as it burned its way down her throat and settled into her stomach, she was too numb for such a feeling – the liquor only succeeding in numbing everything even further.

“Ya know drinking away your grief is not healthy, Amy.” A familiar voice spoke up from the doorway behind her, the sniper’s amber eyes narrowing at the intrusion on her privacy.

She turned to shoot a nasty glare over her shoulder at Jesse McCree, the man was leaned up against the doorframe of Angela’s bedroom and holding that _ridiculous cowboy hat_ in his hand. Her eyes flashing with cold, misplaced rage before she snapped back at him, “If I recall correctly, _McCree_ – I do not answer to you, and I certainly _don’t_ need you babysitting me. Now _leave me alone_.”

“Amélie, darlin’… _please_ , I’m just trying to help yo-.”

Amélie grit her teeth, her raging boiling over in her chest - _unchecked_ and she spun around in an instant to face him, swiping the bottle of alcohol off the table next to her before spitting out in a razor-sharp voice, “ _I **never** asked for your help, now get out of my face!”_

He recoiled at her tone, shaking his head in pity and pleading with her, “I know how scary this must be for ya, Amy. To have all these feelin’s and not know what to do with them. Me…and everyone else here, darlin’ we _ain’t nothing_ like Talon.”

A deep sigh came from him and he stated sadly, “We ain’t gonna punish you for bein’ _human_ , for feelin’ all the pain I know you are feelin’ right now…and we especially ain’t gonna punish you for lettin’ yourself cry about this. Amélie…dear, you can cry.”

Jesse turned to leave when she did not respond, her eyes still full of anger and grief – but he didn’t take it personally, he knew it wasn’t really because of him. He stopped for a moment at the doorway, on the verge of tears himself as he spoke, “I want to find her too, Amy, I really do. Angie’s like a damned sister to me, but I can’t do it alone. So, please, for the love of all that’s good in this world… _just let yourself be human and **cry**._ ”

With that, he left the room and Amélie remained totally speechless. The sniper hesitated before she turned towards the window yet again, her amber eyes watching the storm outside again as a gnawing pain formed behind her eyes. As much as she  _hated_ to admit it, the cowboy had a point and worse still -  _it was a good point_.

“ _Angela_ …” She whispered breathlessly, speaking aloud a name she had not been able to bring herself to say since that day. Treating it as if it was an admittance of something she did not want to believe. 

_Not wanting to believe that Talon had actually taken the doctor_

_...and that it was **her** fault._

A hiss escaped her throat as the pain behind her eyes just became too much, she blinked rapidly until she felt something rolling down her cheeks. Her own hand came up to her face and wiped at it, pulling her hand back to find it wet.

_She was crying._

Amélie could not stop the tears after that, they poured from her eyes and it was as if the dam had finally burst. The combined weight of the blame she had placed on her own shoulders because of losing Angela, the  _grief_ of not being able to stop them from taking her best friend and the years of regret and self loathing because of  _Talon_ , it shattered the mask she forced on herself to keep it contained. 

_She destroyed everything she touched._

She placed a hand on the cold window, slowly sliding down it until she was on her knees – not caring that she had knelt in small glass shards and alcohol from the bottle she had destroyed. A loud cry finally ripping its way out of her throat, the sound of the rain outside a mere whisper compared to her voice as all the pent up pain and emotion became audible.

Finally, the sniper allowed herself to look at the picture in her hands and her eyes locked onto a younger Angela’s eyes. She felt a heavy weight growing deeper in her heart not only at the sight of seeing the doctor’s face with such a bright smile, but also at the sight of her _own smile_.

_It was a reminder of her humanity._

_A humanity she had lost before._

Another choked sob came out of her throat, a wave of sadness ripping its way through her body and soul, she tried desperately to hold them in but it only made her rasp for air until the cries continued. The grief was _maddening_ , Amélie did not know how to cope and it was overwhelming for one who had not felt so strongly in such a long time. The sniper shut her eyes as tight as she could and clutched the picture close to her heart, swearing she could hear Angela’s voice in her ears as it said, _“Amélie, I’m so sorry…please forgive me.”_

_No…_

_Angela was not there, Talon took her away._

_It was **her** fault, she had let them take the doctor away._

_She was weak._

**_But Widowmaker?_**

**_No Widowmaker would not be._ **

A last choked out sentence came from the sniper as she crumpled to the floor under the weight of her despair and that piece of long abandoned evil came lurking to the surface, “ _Angela, I’m so sorry…you will never forgive me for what I’m about to do.”_

_"I've got you, ma petite araignée."_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still so sorry :')


	4. Save Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angela Ziegler as the world knew her is fading away with each day, and Amélie's determination to save her friend is taking her down a very dark path, one that she may not recover from.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god its been a month since I updated this, and I am so sorry for the delay, life happens though and I promise to take less time updating for the next chapters!  
> Pls do enjoy and I hope this was worth the wait!

_“It’s almost time, dear Doctor. The hour of your rebirth has come. Open your eyes.”_

The harsh, cold voice echoed out from oblivion and tore Angela’s mind from the darkness that had overcome it only to find herself in more darkness. She shook her head, trying to get her focus to return to reality – _whatever reality even was anymore_.  A pained groan fell from her lips as she felt the world around her start spinning and causing her head to spin with it – a wave of nausea sweeping over her almost immediately.

Lights suddenly turned on and the doctor gasped, breathing hard and shielding her eyes from the sudden introduction of something she had been deprived of for so long. She blinked numerous times as she slowly lowered her hand, allowing her eyes to adjust to the light as the rest of her came to its senses.

Except there was one little problem…

_She couldn’t feel **anything.**_

Angela frowned hard and carefully brought her only hand up to the shirt on her chest, running her fingertips along the fabric slowly. Yet there was no sensation in her fingertips, she could not feel the cloth beneath her hand or anywhere else on her body. That same hand flew up to her face in an instant, tracing idly along the skin and sighing softly.

_She could feel it, but her skin was neither hot or cold._

The more she focused on her senses, the more she felt like she should be scared – except fear wasn’t bubbling up inside her chest. She felt nothing, no happiness, no anger. It was as if someone had come through and removed all emotion from her body, leaving her only as an empty shell.

“Good to see you awake and alert, Doctor Ziegler. You had us terribly worried for a moment.” That same cold voice from before spoke up from somewhere in the room, Angela’s attention immediately snapping to the source of it.

A man in a black suit stepped out into the light from his place in the shadows, looking far too proud of himself and Angela found her eyes scanning over his face. A metal plate covered his left eye as well as part of his cheek and forehead, his one remaining eye was dark brown and it was staring right back at the doctor when their eyes met.

Angela half-expected a chill to run down her spine at the sickening look in his eye, but she felt nothing and this man? _He was nothing to her_. He lowered the cigar from his lips as he noticed her narrowing eyes and vacant stare, stating firmly, “You are Doctor Angela Ziegler…ah but you don’t remember that yourself, do you?”

The doctor slowly shook her head, a response which made the strange man smirk and let out the most horrible laugh that she found just as sickening as his stare. It also made her cringe hard when the sound reverberated into her ears which were apparently _very_ sensitive compared to the rest of her, causing her pain and the man instantly took notice.

“Ah yes, don’t worry about your senses, or rather… _lack thereof_ , in some cases. You will get them back, although some will be _drastically_ reduced compared to what they were before we brought you in.”

The man stepped closer into her personal space, his gaze falling to the shoulder where her right arm should have been but was not – _a direct result of her accident,_ and he smirked briefly. His hand found the metal component that his scientists had surgically attached, his fingers tapping against the blackened steel before he spoke, “This is no way to leave you, nor could you work in a condition like this. Men, bring in our gift for the good doctor.”

A door to Angela’s right slid open mere seconds later with a low hiss and in came two soldiers’ carrying a large metal case, they brought it over to the table the doctor sat on before placing it down next to her. The man in the suit waved them off with a quick flick of his wrist and they left the room as he circled around to the case, flipping the locks open that held the lid closed.

His eyes flashed up to Angela’s as the click of the locks being opened filled the woman’s ears and he spoke, taunting the poor doctor in that ice-cold voice that she disliked, “This is my gift to you, dear. Consider it an… _advance_ payment for all the work you’re about to do for me and Talon.”

Her eyes immediately shot down to the object as he lifted it from the box and what she saw in his hands _finally_ pulled an emotion from the numb feeling that had consumed her body and mind – the familiar emotion crept into her system and sent chills racing through her.

It was _Fear_.

“Ah, there’s the reaction I was hoping for. You are scared, aren’t you dear?” He stated without even looking at her it was as if he could sense the fear coming from her, his eyes trailing across the robotic limb in his hand.

No response was given from the woman sitting before him, he finally lifted his head up to look at her and his eye flashed – as if he was pleased to see this. He snickered and stepped up next to Angela, lifting the arm up into place next to the metal component on the doctor’s arm.

Angela might not have remembered anything – a fact which terrified her to no end – but she would be damned if she just let herself sit here and let this _monster_ do this to her. However, when she tried to move, her body did not respond and remained perfectly still.

The man shook his head and murmured as he focused on connecting the cybernetic arm to her body, “Trying to make yourself run is futile, my dear. There is no hope of escape for you. But luckily, Talon is going to take _very good care_ of you.”

Suddenly her whole body jolted as the arm was fully connected to its socket in her shoulder, she gasped as felt a wave of feeling rush through the artificial limb before fading into an all too familiar numbness. Despite her fear, a twinge of relief swam through her body yet only for a moment – she may not have had the ability to feel touch but there was the sensation of _having_ a right arm again.

Instinctively, she slowly tried to move the fingers and watched as slowly but surely the fingers reacted to the signals in her brain. The man turned away for a moment, waving his hand back at her and explaining, “Keep them moving for a few moments and the delay will wear off.”

Angela stared nervously at the man as he turned away before she reluctantly brought her attention back down to her own hand, doing as he said and continuing to move the fingers on her new arm. It only took a moment just as he had said before they began to move normally again.

_These people, this ‘Talon’, they had given her back her missing limb_

_But deep, deep down_

_She did not know for sure, but she felt as if they were about to take away more than what a missing limb was worth._

**_Much, much more_ **

Angela’s brain raced as the drugs which numbed her body seemed to fade away with each passing moment, she distracted herself by tracing her left hand across the smooth black metal that took the place of what once had been skin. Purple lights glowed, peeking out through the lines between the plates of metal and illuminating her skin in a twisted looking glow.

“What happens no-.”

The doctor’s words were cut off by a needle being plunged into the side of her neck by the man, she fought against him but it was hopeless. He held her in place, using the needle to force more drugs into her body and whispering in a sickeningly sweet voice, “Shhh, do not fret, _beloved doctor_. Do not fight the drugs, let them take you…easy, easy now, _close your eyes_.”

Panicked breaths came from Angela as she collapsed backwards onto the centerpiece she had been sitting on, her body slowly becoming immobilized while her consciousness dwelled. It was fight she could not win, and so she submitted to the drugs effect’s, allowing them to rid her of freedom.

The man stepped into her view and smirked, patting the side of her face before turning away and gesturing back towards her. Footsteps could be heard elsewhere in the room but Angela could not turn her head to see who else was there, only listening as they grew louder and louder.

“ _She is ready for the next stage of reconditioning.”_

 _“Dios Mio…_ you realize that what you are doing to this woman is sick, right?”

A laugh echoed out from the man then, filling Angela’s ears and she felt the words they spoke before they faded further and further from her minds grasp. She knew now she did not have much longer before she was lost again.

“ _I do not care. This is for Talon’s benefit; any one human’s suffering is worth it in the end.”_

_“Reaper, what do you think?”_

Heavy footsteps started towards the doctor and suddenly a white mask appear in her vision, but where there should have been eyes – Angela found only darkness. A whimper escaped her throat and the figure known as Reaper laughed, a clawed hand reaching up to none-to-gently grab the woman’s chin.

“ _I think…I **enjoy** seeing her become a monster…just like the one’s she created.” _ Reaper growled out, watching as the doctor’s eyes panickily moved around the room as if they were searching for something.

He released her chin and remarked, “Make sure she suffers as muc-.”

Angela could no longer hear the words, her senses shutting down completely one-by-one. She fought it now, knowing that there was no hope for her if she did not and something, deep down inside of her pushed her to fight harder.

Sadly, her fight was for naught, the drug took hold of her mind at last and her eyes finally drifted closed, consciousness leaving her once again.

And the next time she woke?

_Angela Ziegler as the world knew her…_

_Would be **no more.**_

 

* * *

****

Hanzo walked down the halls of Watch Point: Gibraltar alone, listening to the sounds of the others voices echoing off the empty walls and he hurriedly made his way towards the former quarters of Doctor Angela Ziegler.

 _“No, not former_. _Jesse would be upset if he knew I even thought that_.” The archer murmured to himself, thinking back on the many nights he had spent since Angela’s disappearance comforting the grieving man when sleep refused to come to him.

He approached the door, allowing it to slide open and he was met with an unexpected sight. From his talk with Jesse the previous night, the room should have been messy and torn apart, furniture upturned and empty bottles sitting on most of the surfaces.

_Expect the room now was the total opposite of that._

Stepping in further, Hanzo noted that _nothing_ appeared to be out of place. Furniture that was supposedly upturned was instead sitting on the floor, clean and unbroken. Bottles were no where to be seen anywhere, on _any_ surface.

_It was as if the whole room had been wiped clean, top to bottom._

He stood there dumbfounded for a moment, this rooms state was not what he had expected to see. But his attention was pulled from that when Amélie stepped into the living space from Angela’s bedroom, her eyes finding Hanzo’s in a split second before she spoke with a tired smile crossing over her lips, “Hanzo, I was worried that you would not come.”

She moved along towards the large open paned window across the room, the archer followed her and responded as he stopped at her side, “I consider you a good friend, Amélie. And I figured you required something, otherwise you would not have reached out to me or anyone else.”

A sigh fell from the sniper’s lips and she said in a voice that was just barely louder than a whisper, “And I am sorry for that, it is just how I have learned to cope.”

“But you are right, I need to ask something of you. Something important.” Amélie added softly a moment later, her voice much easier to hear this time.

Hanzo turned his gaze towards the window before placing his hand on her shoulder. He looked up at the taller woman and spoke reassuringly to her, “Whatever you need of me, all you must do is ask. I want to be of assistance to you, Amélie.”

Minutes of silence passed between them until Amélie looked back at him and pleaded, “Before I tell you anything about this, Hanzo. Promise me that you will not tell another soul _until I return_.”

He frowned hard at her words, his eyes narrowing but he nodded, choking down the worry that rose up in his throat at her words. Amélie crossed her arms, taking in a breath before speaking in such a cold voice that Hanzo barely recognized her, “I’m going after Angela.”

Silence passed between the two, Hanzo took a moment to process what the sniper had just said. Thinking he had misheard her words, or was interpreting them incorrectly. Anything to delay the fact he knew deep down, _she meant it_.

“Wait…what? You _cannot_ be serious.”

Amélie frowned and defended, “ _Dead serious,_ Hanzo. I have my rifle and I _know_ what I’m doing. Talon took Angela away from us, but unlike the others, _I refuse_ to standby while they do whatever they want to her. Those _bastards_ will not see me coming until its far too late to run, I will tear down their precious organization in seconds and make sure that no employee is left breathing.”

Her voice was so dark, growing in its hateful tone as she continued speaking, Hanzo shuddered at the sound and took a wary step away from the sniper. She did not sound like the Amélie he had come to know over the past few years, her voice was too bitter and her plans for Talon too violent. This did not sound anything like Amélie.

 _She sounded like Widowmaker_.

“Amélie Lacroix…what have you done? Widowmaker…you let her back inside your head, did you not?” Hanzo questioned, his eyes wide with worry as he took another step back from the taller woman.

“Back inside? You speak as if we have been two different people all along, Shimada. I _am_ Widowmaker, we are _one person and always **have been**_. And I am going to tear Talon down to its very foundations, ruin everything it has planned and those who hurt Angela will _suffer_.”

The archer could scarcely believe what he was hearing coming out of Amélie’s mouth, he frowned and snapped back trying to make her see reason, “Think about _what you’re doing_ Amélie! Angela is not going to be able to pull you back from that darkness again. You know if you go down this road, there is no coming back from it and it is a road you will walk alone.”

She turned to face him now, her amber eyes flashing with anger and she retorted sharply, “ _Then it is the price I must pay_. But Talon cannot be allowed to exist in this world a second longer, and _I must save Angela_. _This is not her fate.”_

“Please, _do not do this_.”

The sniper grit her teeth and stated firmly, “It’s too late. I have made up my mind.”

Her voice softened suddenly, her once tense shoulders relaxing as she murmured, “Hanzo…I _need to do this_. And I need you to promise me, if I become a threat to Overwatch upon my return…”

She paused.

“ _I need you to take my life.”_

Those final words that slipped from her lips made Hanzo shiver, his heart racing to the point he could barely feel it beating and his eyes filled with worry. He took a hesitant step forward and spoke softly, “ _Take your life?_ Amélie, what you ask of me…”

A heavy sigh came from the taller woman and she replied, “I know, its selfish and cruel to ask this of you, but _I have to, Hanzo_ …You are the only one I can trust to do what has to be done.”

“Why not ask the others, those you know better? _Why me?_ ” Hanzo pleaded with the sniper, trying to understand – _to comprehend_ , why Amélie was choosing him instead of the others.

“Anyone else would refuse to do this, even when there is no hope left for me but I know you will take pity on me and ease that suffering _. Please, Hanzo._ ” Amélie responded, a flare of emotion shot through her eyes and Hanzo saw the truth in them, a truth that he himself had already known.

He went deadly quiet for several moments as he stood there staring at Amélie, fighting internally with his thoughts about what to do. But in the end, debating with himself would only delay the inevitable answer he came to.

“I will do it, Amélie. Should you return and we are unable to save you, I will be the one to bring you peace at last.” Hanzo murmured the promise, lifting his head to stare at the sniper and Amélie gave a small nod.

“You do not know how much that means to hear, I will never forget what you have done for me.” She stated with a sad smile on her face and gave him a small pat on the shoulder before walking past him.

Amélie moved across the room to pick up a duffel bag and a large gun case from behind the sofa where she had hidden them, though hiding them was a precaution she had prepared in case Hanzo decided he would not be the one to hold this responsibility.

She ran her hand over the surface of the gun case, fingers nervously tapping against the steel as she took in a deep breath. Knowing that in a few hours she would be once again set foot in Talon’s stronghold as the weapon they had created to kill.

_Except this time, she would be killing **them.**_

“Thank you…for everything, Hanzo, I will not forget this kindness.” Amélie finally broke the silence, murmuring her thanks to the Archer and spared one last glance back at him

Hanzo offered her a small nod and ordered as he watched her turn towards the door of Angela’s room, “ _You just bring her home,_ Amélie. _And don’t lose yourself doing it.”_

Amélie actually stopped as the words he spoke reverberated through her head, the fingers on the handle of her gun case gripping even tighter as a soft twinge of pain hit her heart. _Losing herself was a risk she was willing to make, for Angela and her safety._ When she replied, her words _felt heavy_ _and sad,_ each one weighing down on Hanzo’s shoulders, “If I save Angela, but _I’m not myself_ …tell her that I am _so, so sorry_.”

Before he could argue, _before he could stop her_ , Amélie had left the room with her bags.

_There was no stopping her now_

Hanzo stood there in silence for several moments, staring at the door that Amélie had walked through mere seconds before on her mission to save Angela. A dejected sigh came from the man and his shoulders fell, a muttered apology passing through his lips. He knew he couldn’t keep her plans a secret, they were simply _too big_ to keep from the others and so he acted.

 “Athena?”

“Yes, Hanzo?”

“Athena, tell the others to meet me in Winston’s lab right away. It’s urgent.”

_It was his responsibility to tell them the truth._

 

* * *

 

Sombra stood outside the doors outside of Talon’s infirmary, her arms crossed over her chest as her fingers idly tapped against her skin. Waiting for the locked doors next to her to finally open so she could go in and see what Talon’s scientists had done to the once proud, Doctor Angela Ziegler.

A chill shot down the hacker’s spine as her mind traveled to the countless nights she had sat in her office or found herself wandering the halls, listening to the doctor’s screams echoing down the halls and through the vents of the Talon headquarters. It was a sound that haunted her, but now these dark corridors were filled with nothing but heavy footsteps and voices – which was almost nearly as nerve wracking as hearing the screams late at night.

The sound of heavy footsteps suddenly reached her ears and when they stopped, a heavy voice spoke up from her right side, pulling her from her thoughts immediately, “Ah Sombra, good to know that you are eager to see the progress we’ve made…have you been waiting long?”

The hacker turned her head to find herself staring at the head of Talon, the man behind this cruel plan to capture and transform Angela into Talon’s very own mad doctor. The one responsible for the hours of torment and suffering the doctor had been forced through. His single eye held its intense gaze on her face, it would have been intimidating if Sombra had, well, _ever_ found the man even the slightest bit intimidating.

“No, I’m not eager, I _do not really care._ But it has not been long, _Icarus_ – that is what we are _supposed_ to call you, yes?”

The man simply nodded in response with a slight smirk playing on his lips like he was proud of it and Sombra scoffed, shaking her head. Of course, this man _would_ give himself some overdramatic codename for them to call him by _._ Her voice teased as she spoke up again, “Well, _Icarus_ , let’s go inside now and see what you’ve done to the Doctor.”

“I think you’ll like the changes I have ordered to be made to the dear doctor. She’s going to be a great asset for Talon and I want to make sure her _friends_ know just how far gone she is.” Icarus stated all too proudly as they moved to the doors of the infirmary.

Sombra rolled her eyes and quipped back as the doors opened slowly, “Somehow I doubt that I wi-.”

Her words left her in an instant once the doors had opened and she turned her attention from Icarus to look ahead into the infirmary, a twinge of pain shot through her heart at the sight laid out before her very eyes and it sent chills racing down her spine.

“will…” Sombra finished, her voice just barely louder than a whisper.

There, standing in middle of the infirmary was Angela Ziegler, or at least her body anyways, bare and exposed to the cold of the room. Her hair had been let down and now its once blonde locks were a dark pink/purple color that was similar to Sombra’s own hair. Her body was dripping wet like they had sprayed her down with water, her skin a deathly pale, _almost snow white_ and scars were spread out across the surface of her body – _very recent scars too_.

Sombra slowly moved past Icarus to stand a few feet in front of Angela, finding herself shivering more as she scanned the doctor’s face. Angela’s eyes no longer held their once soft blue hues, the combination of the drugs pumping through her veins and the endless procedures they had preformed on her had altered the color into a dark, purple shade. The stare she bore into the wall ahead of her was so vacant and cold, it was like the soul had been sucked straight from her very body.

The hacker stared harder into the smaller woman’s eyes, hoping that there was even the tiniest spark of resistance and willpower left inside of her. Praying that Talon hadn’t succeeded in removing everything inside of the doctor, and that somewhere in there, Angela Ziegler as she was before was still there and still fighting.

But there was nothing in her eyes

_Talon had destroyed the doctor for good._

Suddenly the workers outfitting the doctor stepped back in to make the final additions to their _masterpiece_ , carrying with them a new combat suit. The movement caused Sombra to break eye contact with Angela before she stepped back allowing them to work, but it was almost sickening to watch them make the woman look like some sort of villain.

Angela let out a harsh breath as several pairs of gloved hands rubbed towels over her ice-cold skin to wipe away the water. But she felt absolutely nothing, no touch, not that of the hands that grazed her skin or of the fabric of towels or her blackened combat suit as the workers eased her into it.

 _“My, my, doctor…_ now this look, it definitely suits you far more than that bland combat suit _those fools_ at Overwatch had you prancing around in.” Icarus chimed in as he slowly walked in circles around the workers and Angela.

The doctor said nothing in response, she just obediently sat still as the workers installed plates of armor on various spots on her uniform. Each piece of tech or armor fastened to Angela’s body was another thing to take away who she was, making her more machine than human.

Sombra suddenly heard Icarus snicker and turned her head to see as the man take a small device from the hand of Reaper, who had suddenly appeared without warning. He passed the device off to one of the workers. It was slightly curved and the inside of the curve was filled with a series of small needles, whatever this device was – _it wasn’t good._

“What is that?” She questioned, watching as the worker he had entrusted it to slid a small vial into the top of it before locking the vial into place.

“It’s the beginning of the spinal implant we are preparing for Doctor Ziegler. It will not only give us control of her body, but will allow us to have a near constant stream of drugs administered into her body. _You_ are going to help us design the rest of it.”

Sombra didn’t even have to question that statement, she knew if Talon wanted anyone to help them design a spinal implant, it would be her. She had her contacts and she could have the whole thing done within a few days, it would be too easy for her to do.

_But that didn’t mean she would do it._

She simply went quiet and watched as the worker fastened the small device into the back of Angela’s neck, pushing the needles into her skin. The sudden intrusion made the doctor let out a harsh breath and flinch briefly before she relaxed into her dehumanized state once again, for a moment she swore she heard Reaper _laugh_ at the sight.

Suddenly they all stepped back and one brought a metal case over to Icarus, the leader of Talon flicked the locks open slowly before pulling open the lid carefully. There nestled inside the protective foam like material inside the case was the halo that Angela had worn with her Valkyrie suit but it was not golden, instead it was plated with a shiny black metal and it let off a soft purple glow from the lights within it.

Icarus lifted it from the case and approached Angela, taking slow, methodical steps as he moved, like he was trying to intimidate any remaining resistance out of the doctor. He stopped directly in front of her, his fingers idly tapping the blackened halo before he spoke, “Weeks of work, and it all has amounted to _this very_ moment.”

He glanced at the halo and continued taunting as he pretended to inspect it, “You know, it’s almost _poetic_. Your entire transformation, I mean…you go from looking and being an angel meant to bring life and save others. But _now_ , you are…hmmm.”

His final words made Sombra shiver, “An angel of death.”

The halo was lifted then, slotted into place on the doctor’s head gear with a soft click before Icarus lowered his hands and stepped back to gaze upon his angel of death. Sombra hung back as Reaper stepped up to the doctor, his clawed hand gripping the woman’s chin tightly.

“I _almost_ wish Amélie was here to see this, what you have become. She would turn heel and run so fast, it would _break you even more_.” Reaper spat out at Angela but his words did nothing to faze the doctor in the slightest.

Icarus cut in then, attempting to keep the mercenary from hurting the doctor _already_ , “Reaper, please…do step back from the lady. You and I are done here, but Sombra, I expect you to start planning the spinal implant. Though I would not recommend staying here, the drugs making her weak fade soon and she may be unpleasant.”

Reaper faded into his smoky self, coiling around the doctor briefly before sliding out of the room with Icarus in tow. When the metal doors slid shut and locked behind them, Sombra let out a breath that she forgot she had been holding and turned her eyes to stare at Angela.

“Oh _chica,_ I am sorry I let them do this.” She murmured under her breath as she stepped closer and put a hand on the doctor’s neck, sighing in relief when she felt the faintest of heartbeats still beating underneath the armor.

The hacker brushed some of the pink strands of hair from Angela’s face and spoke with as much hope in her voice as she could manage, “Once, while Amélie was in the same position you’re in now…I promised her that I would do whatever it took to free her. And guess what? I _did._ Soo...”

She took the doctor’s robotic hand in between her own, squeezing gently before she continued, “I’m going to do the same thing for you. Look, I don’t know if you’re even still in there Ziegler but I need you to stay with me. Amélie would kick my ass if I didn’t get you back in one piece.”

When Sombra turned away to begin her work, the doctor’s head shifted to follow the hacker’s movements around the room and a voice, so weak and strained that other woman couldn’t hear it came from the smaller woman’s throat.

“ _H-help…me.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the villian's name is Icarus because its ironic and gonna be relevant to the story pls


	5. Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sombra pushes the limits of Talon's patience with her when she uncovers more information about what they did to Overwatch's prized doctor while the final pieces of their experiments on Angela are falling into place, and Amélie's plan to rescue Angela is underway.

A soft purple glow was cast through the otherwise dark room, a soft electronic clicking filled the room as a lone figure sat in front of a large holoscreen. Lines upon lines of code filled the glowing screen as the clicking continued, the figures hands dancing across the keyboard at a lightning quick pace.

But suddenly the line of codes came to an end, the fast clicking slowed to a stop and a heavy sigh slipped from the figure as a diagram flashed into place on their screen. The flickering image shifted into a 3D shape, rotating slowly as the systems ran through the code right next to it.

 _"Dios mío, mira lo que te han hecho..."_ Sombra’s voice filled the void of silence in the room as the code she created for Talon ran through entirely with no glitches or errors, for what seemed like the thousandth time. The hacker’s shoulders dropped low and her head found its way to her palms, resting against them entirely.

Sombra’s voice sounded so heavy, so tired, just completely dejected, mainly due to her current situation. Hours upon hours of completing and re-completing the same series of codes in the hopes that she would just _happen_ to make the smallest of errors that would end up setting back Talon’s plan.

The plan involving one Doctor Angela Ziegler…

The infamous hacker cast a hateful glare at the diagram of the spinal implant that currently rotated in the air in front of her as a digital diagram _._ And the code she had been working on? It had been done almost seven hours ago, but she had found herself deleting it all upon completion only to redo it – _over and over_.

She reckoned that she had probably built and rebuilt that sequence of code almost a hundred times, if not even more than that – but honestly, she had stopped counting after the tenth time she’d done it. And she stopped to ask herself why every single time she completed it, only to delete it immediately after the question had slipped into her thoughts.

It wasn’t totally _unreasonable_ to question why she was doing this.

Sombra sat up suddenly and lifted her hands as if to start typing again, but something halted her movements. Her fingers hovered above the keys, twitching as if she meant to start typing until finally whatever was eating at her control won out and her hands fell down into her lap. Yes, she may be one of the most notorious and dangerous criminals in the world, but honestly?

Taking part and helping Talon with their experiments were where she drew the line. She may be a criminal but that did not mean she threw her morals out the window when it came to the cruellest of things, especially experimentation being performed on _unwilling_ human test subjects.

The sequence of code and diagram in front of her were part of that sick, twisted experimentation. The 3D model was of the spinal implant that Talon would be surgically attaching to Angela, which would administer doses of the drugs that were keeping her as their mind controlled puppet. And the code? The code was supposed to be formatted into the implant to ensure it was administering the correct doses at the right intervals.

Her eyes lifted to stare at the screens in front of her, shivers ran through her nerves. Just thinking about what Talon was going to be using her work for made bitter bile rise in her throat.

Of course, she always had the back up plan to just _run_ and take Doctor Ziegler with her, to just get the poor woman away from all of this and back to Overwatch. But a part of her knew better than to do that, knew that if she ran to Overwatch that they would just detain her and make her a sitting duck for Talon to come after. But she also knew that even with all the skills and resources she had at her disposal – it wouldn’t take long at all before Talon finally caught up with her.

Sombra scoffed and slid the screens containing her work to the side, pulling up a third and muttering to herself as began rapidly tapping away on the holographic keyboard, “Time to find out how bad this is, doc. I’m going to fix it.”

File after file filled her screen, documents both related and unrelated to Talon’s experimentation on Angela Ziegler. Hidden emails she dug from the depths of the corporation’s network between Icarus and the head scientist running their little project, and they were _quite_ interesting.

The hacker’s narrowed eyes scanned line after line of the emails until they shot wide open, her voice filled with utter disbelief as she highlighted the lines she had just read, “... _the large electric shocks administered proved to be an effective method of reconditioning against our patient, and was proven to be even more helpful after the amount of drugs given during stage 2 of the reconditioning process. The results we received from Ziegler were far better than the results we received from our first patient, Amélie Lacroix…”_

Immediately Sombra had the screen containing the emails pushed aside, scouring once more through the network to find what she was looking for - the connection to Talon’s web of on-base security cameras. And seconds later, the hacker had what she was looking for and found herself watching as over and over, the scientist tormented a restrained and drugged Doctor Ziegler.

Sound came from the video feed, a sound Sombra recognized as a whimper, and it was enough to make the hacker shiver. She zoomed the video in closer and watched as beads of sweat could be seen dripping down the doctor’s face and catching on the rim of the mask over her mouth.

" _Oh chica…"_

She watched Angela closely, found herself lost in the doctor’s eyes. Bloodshot and empty, but yet she saw that somewhere in those broken blue irises lay the last sparks of will to fight Talon. _The last pieces of the Angela Ziegler._

“Doctor Ziegler, enough is enough. _Stop fighting this._ ”

Sombra turned her attention to the scientist when he spoke, watching him press a button on his arm band. A split second later, Angela was screaming again, dry and hoarse as the wires connected to her brain hit her with what Sombra guessed was electric shocks.

Talon was trying to make her forget herself, Overwatch, everything - this torture had just been one part of that. They were trying to tear Angela away, to destroy this woman as she was now and rebuild her into their own twisted image.

The doctor rasped for air as the shocks ended, licking her dry and cracked lips. Her body trembling as she spoke while barely managing to choke back her sob, _“I don’t want this…please s-stop.”_

_“Stop believing in your feelings, Doctor. You might then be surprised to find just how much of your nature started with a simple flip of a coin. It started there and then they grew, grew into the pillars you hold them up to be.”_

Another electric shock hit Angela then, a scream ripping its way out of her throat and Sombra found herself turning away from the screen, shaking her head in disgust.

“I should have acted sooner, Ziegler. I am sorry.” The hacker muttered to herself, running her hand down her face before turning her gaze back to screen when the sounds of screams faded from the video.

_“You can fight until you’ve spent your will to fight and your voice is gone, but we will tear them down and build them anew. That’s what we did to Ms. Lacroix.”_

A laugh came from the man before they finished, _“However she was considerably easier to break than you are.”_

Angela choked back another sob, her pleading whispers were so soft that Sombra almost didn’t hear them, _“Amélie…I don’t want to forget you…please, don’t let them erase you. I don’t w-want to forget...”_

Sombra cursed and quickly shut down the feed, pushing herself away from the screens. Except when she turned around, there standing in her doorway of her office was Icarus - _leader of Talon._

His remaining silver eye looked to her screens, staying there for several moments until it then shifted back down to the hacker, he stepped closer and spoke, “I see you figured it out...the other things we have done to Doctor Ziegler, and you _must see_ how effective it has been?”

Sombra rose from the computer chair to her feet, scoffing and shaking her head, running her nails across her jaw before she stated with a heavy sigh slipping past her lips, “ _Yes I know_ , but what you are doing to her…”

She forced herself to hold back what she _actually wanted to say,_ taking a moment to think of something else to get her point across before she continued with a small motion of her hand, “Are you familiar of the myth of _Icarus_ ? I mean...it _is_ your namesake, it's a good fit for you too.”

Icarus raised an eyebrow at that, but Sombra continued before he could stop her, “Icarus was given wings so he might escape, but he was warned not to fly too high or too low, else the wings would be ruined and he would fall.”

She stepped closer to the man and smirked, lifting her hand to tap her nails against his shoulder. He didn’t show much reaction to her speech so far and Sombra took it as a sign to go on, “But Icarus was careless and he flew too high, and guess what happened? The heat of the sun ruined the wings and Icarus fell to his death.”

“ _What is your point, Sombra?”_ Icarus finally snapped at the hacker, grasping her wrist as she moved to walk away from him. Her head whipped around until her gaze locked with his, seeing his teeth were bared and there was a cold rage in his eyes. Her eyes narrowed, darkening and she wrenched her arm back from him with a scoff.

“My point, Icarus, is that you shouldn’t fly so high and ignore the warnings, I would just _hate_ to see the very thing you were warned of _tear you down_.” Sombra warned, her voice growing dangerously sharp as she uttered the last three words.

She moved back to her computer chair and added with a laugh, “And your precious coding for the spinal implant is done, so I would have your engineers hurry up with their work before it's too late.”

It was dead quiet for several moments, the only sound to signify that Icarus had left was the whirring of the metal door as it slid open and then closed once again. Sombra leaned back into her chair with a sigh of relief, knowing full well she had pissed the man off.

The hacker looked toward her work again, shutting her eyes and whispering to herself, “Just hold on, Ziegler. I’ll think of something.”

* * *

Science Project, experiment _, a puppet…_

Those had been just a few names that the newest member of Talon had heard her co-workers refer to her as in the very short time she had been conscious and moving, not that she _gave a damn_. They could call her whatever they pleased, she would just simply remember the particularly _rude_ names.

Dark metal fingers gripped the cigarette, lowering it away from pale, cracked lips as a billow of smoke rose up past glowing purple eyes before fading into the air. Her eyes lowered to stare at the burning embers, the only thing in the room that was not either black or a _sickening_ purple color. That simple faint red glow at the tip had her mesmerized before she brought it down against her human hand, sitting idly on the arm of the chair.

“Hmm, interesting…there is, _absolutely nothing_.” The woman’s hollow voice filled the silence of the pitch black room, purple eyes shifting as her head tilted to inspect the mark left behind on her hand. A burn, but no pain.

The cigarette was lifted back up to her lips, Mercy inhaling deeply one final time before it was carelessly tossed aside with a flick of her finger. Leaning back in her chair, Mercy allowed the smoke to seep out of her nostrils slowly and she relished in the sight. How smoke curled and danced in the darkness above her, creating a chilling aura around the once bright, happy doctor. 

“You certainly seem to fit well into your new role.”

An amused smirk crossed over Mercy’s lips as Reaper’s voice reached her ears and she used her dangling foot to spin her chair around to face the man, already knowing where he was standing. To the naked eye he was invisible in the darkness of her lab but when her eyes landed on him, the faint purple glow was enough to reveal his mask to her.

“What do you want?” She stated in an unimpressed voice, her metal hand coming up to rest under her chin. The purple glow from its interior casting eerie shadows up across her face, illuminating her snow white skin in the light.

He gave no response, instead fading into black smoke and slinking forward towards the doctor. Mercy watched him move across the floor, rolling her eyes as he coiled around the chair she sat in and reformed behind her.

“You still have to pay for what you did to me.” He snarled into her ear, grasping her face in one hand to force her to turn towards him. The claws on his gauntlet digging violently into the pale skin of her cheek, leaving thin cuts behind when he pulled his hand away.

Mercy scoffed in disbelief, _of course_ this bastard would come to get revenge for something so _unimportant_. She shook her head and rose up to her feet, pushing Reaper back out of her personal space and taunting in an icy voice, “What? You can’t let that go, _you pathetic, bitter old man_?”

He threw his fist towards her face with a vicious snarl but her cybernetic hand caught the punch before it could reach her face. They stood there, glaring at each other as Reaper pushed against the doctor but whatever Talon had done to her - they had made her _far_ more strong than he was.

Suddenly he faded into smoke once again, using his alternate form to his advantage and curling rapidly around her legs to confuse and distract before reforming behind her to throw another punch. But before he could process what had happened, she had spun around and her metal hand connected with his face, _shattering_ his mask on contact while the force of the hit sent him sprawling back across the floor.

“N _ice try_ , but you no longer have your place at the top of Talon’s priority list. I do. And they made me better than you _ever were_.” Mercy snapped, lowering her metal hand and idly flexing the fingers as if she was expecting him to lunge at her once again.

 _And honestly she hoped he would just so she could hit him again_.

Reaper pushed himself up off of the floor slightly, glancing at the fragments of his mask before sweeping them aside with his hand and lifting his head towards Mercy. The black hood hid his exposed face from the doctor’s view, but she could feel the hateful stare he shot at her.

Rising up to his feet, Reaper prepared to snap back at her when suddenly the doors slid open and light poured into the room. He growled and quickly slipped away without drawing attention, just moments before the labs lights flicked on then and in came Icarus. He was accompanied by two soldiers who dragged a third man along with them, and he looked a little worse for wear. Mercy stepped back as they entered, her eyes falling down to the man being forced into her lab and she smirked.

 _This was going to be fun_.

Icarus stepped onto a piece of what was once Reaper’s mask, glancing down at the fragments and stating with a soft laugh, “I see our resident _ghost_ took the time to stop in and settle an old score...well, he has _attempted_ at least.”

The doctor rolled her eyes and retorted as she moved across the room to prepare her tools for what she _knew_ was coming, “He did nothing but be an overdramatic child, I merely put him in his place.”

“Excellent, but for now...I have another task for you to focus on. Bring the prisoner forward.” Icarus snapped his fingers as the order left his lips, the two soldiers with him dragged forward the third man and Mercy stepped up to him, tilting her head back and forth as she looked down at him.

Her purple eyes lifted to find Icarus before she questioned, a razor edge slipping into her voice, “What am I supposed to do with _him?_ ”

“Kill him.” Was all that came from Icarus as a reply.

Mercy looked down at the man again, her purple eyes flashing in excitement at the orders before turned back to her tools and started speaking in a sickeningly sweet voice, “Shall I make it quick? Slow? Bloody? Or perhaps a... _cleaner_ method, yes?”

Icarus watched her, saw the excitement caused by the idea of _killing_ radiating off of the once kind, compassionate doctor. The mental reconditioning process had worked, and worked _so damned well_ this time too. He grinned at her and said in an all too proud voice, “However you would like to kill him, _you choose, Doctor."_

The soldiers picked the man back up and lugged him over to the table, restraining him as Icarus explained to Talon’s newest member, “You work for _Talon_ now. You are not bound by law or morality, you simply _follow orders._ ”

There was a brief pause as Icarus approached the doctor, laying a hand on her face and continuing, “Whatever you need to work, ask and it will be yours, you have _unlimited access_ to Talon’s resources.”

The excited glint continued to flicker in Mercy’s glowing eyes, like a child being given whatever they wanted - and that made Icarus the enabling parent. The doctor moved away from him to admire her first patient and pull her tools closer, thriving off of the adrenaline of this moment.

“Ohhh, this is going to be... _marvelous_.” She cooed to the restrained man, her metal hand playfully patting his battered cheek before she turned to the various instruments on the cart next to her.

“My men will be back to collect his body later, do this one thing and Talon will _ensure_ you never run out of test subjects. We look forward to working with you, dear doctor.”

With that Icarus and his men left the doctor’s infirmary, leaving Mercy and her first patient alone. It was only a few moments after they had left that a series of blood-curdling screams shot down the corridors and traveled throughout Talon headquarters.

_The Angel of Death had come forth, at last._

* * *

“You bastard’s really love hiding in plain sight don’t you? _Ugh._ ”

Amélie laid hidden in the grass atop a hill, muttering as she peered down the barrel of her rifle at the seemingly normal military base below, the sight of it alone pulling at her mind, _it felt all too familiar._

Now she just had to remember where the damned maintenance entrance was so she could gain access to the lower levels of the base.

“Breathe, _remember_.”

She rested her head against her rifle and shut her eyes, sucking in a harsh breath and trying to call forth the memory she needed to get inside. It was there, she _knew_ _it was_ , it was in her grasp but it would not come to the surface.

“ _East_ ...but east what? Surely I must remember more tha- _wait._ ”

Her amber eyes shot open and she glanced at the sky before quickly peering back down her scope, shuffling until she was staring at the easternmost building of the base. _Of course it was that fucking simple_.

A smirk crossed over her lips and she rose to a crouching position, slinging her rifle into place over her shoulder before slinking forward down the hill. Slowly she took careful steps down the semi steep slope towards the main road leading to the base, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the roar of an engine.

“ _Merde!_ ”

Amélie dropped to the dirt in an instant as the vehicle sped by, staying completely still until it had passed the threshold of the main gates. A grumble came from the sniper as she shifted up again, making her way to the edge of the road and checking her surroundings briefly before dashing across towards the eastern fence.

_Odd…_

_There were no guards covering this section of the perimeter walls._

Eyes scanned the walls carefully, making sure there were absolutely no guards in place. Both concerned yet satisfied, Amélie crept up to the wall and unlatched her grappling hook from her belt, locking it into place on her arm.

“ _Here goes nothing_.”

She lifted her arm up towards the top edge of the wall, firing the hook a split second later and silently praying it stuck. With a satisfying click, the hook latched into the heavy metal firmly and pulled her up within reach of the metal walkway. Cursing under her breath, Amélie grabbed the cool steel before unlatching her hook from the wall, carefully pulling herself up over the metal railings until she could slip over onto the metal walkway. Her current position put her right next to the building she had been eyeing earlier, and it gave her a window of opportunity to slip into the lower levels unnoticed. Amélie wasted no time, making sure she was clear before jumping down and rushing towards the front door of the building. Just before she reached it, it opened and two guards came out, talking idly back and forth.

“ _The missing guards from the wall, fuck…_ ”

She pressed herself against the edge of the building quickly and held her breath as they passed by, her heart beat remaining incredibly slow even as one of them stopped to look towards the shadows where she was hidden. He stood there for a brief moment, his eyes seemingly scanning for movement in the darkness before he gave up and continued on his way with his partner.

They moved up the steps to take up positions on the walk ways of the perimeter wall and when their backs turned to her, she flipped around the corner and slipped into the door they had exited.

Cursing under her breath, she pulled out the silenced side arm she carried with her and crept forward again with it raised, her trained eyes quickly spotting the maintenance hatch into the lower levels a few feet from where she was. _It was her back door into the base._

But across the room was a series of computers with a man asleep at the keyboard, he didn’t _seem_ like a threat, but the widowmaker could not take chances. She took aim with her weapon, popping a quick round into the man’s skull before slipping down into the hatch.

She hoped she wouldn’t have to be here long enough to worry about bodies being found, she _planned_ on being in and out with Angela before anyone noticed.

“. _..Come on, the boss is calling us into the infirmary._ ”

Amélie stopped immediately when she heard the voice coming from around the corner next to her, she pressed herself to the wall when footsteps started in her direction and she listened as the guards passed - _hoping they would give her the intel she needed._

“The infirmary? Does that mean we are responsible for cleaning up the mess his little science project makes?”

“ _Maybe,_ or maybe we’re just more patients for her to make a mess of.”

Laughter came from one of the men and the other swore, snapping back in a panic, “Don’t say shit like that! Fuck for all we know that doctor is actually going to _experiment on us_.”

_Ohh these two did not disappoint._

Amélie shook her head in disbelief and slowly tailed the two men, knowing that if Angela was going to be kept anywhere in the base - the infirmary was the best place to start for her. She crept after them, stopping when they moved into the main corridor of Talon’s lower level base.

“Come on, _come on."_  She breathed between her clenched teeth, peeking around the corner and watching as the soldiers disappeared into a set of doors just a few feet up the hall from where she stood.

So she waited...

And waited.

Until _finally_ screams echoed out from behind the metal door, she went wide eyed and immediately lifted her handgun to level it to the entrance. Amélie kept steady, unmoving until the doors opened and one of the soldiers she tailed came stumbling out, blood pouring from his throat.

_It was as if someone had torn his throat open with their bare hand._

She watched as he rasped for air, hopelessly gripping at his bloodied throat before he walked directly into the wall across from the open door. His shaking hands smeared blood across the wall during his struggle to keep his feet beneath him, he was fighting so desperately. A battle that he _must have known_ he wasn't going to win.

Finally, _finally,_ the soldier crumpled to the metal floor and stilled. The doors of the infirmary stayed open however, like someone was standing just in range to keep them open on the other side. _Like someone stood their watching_   _the man die._  Amélie swore her heart would jump out of her throat in unease when finally the doors slid closed. She took a shaky breath, keeping the firearm raised and moving forward with slow, calculated steps.

“ _She’s fine,_ Amélie, _breathe._ ” The sniper chided at herself in an attempt to ease her trembling hands, moving closer and closer towards the blood stained doors.

One final glance was cast at the body of the soldier outside the door, the crimson pool of blood growing beneath him cast Amélie's reflection back at her. Her own amber eyes staring back at her, burning into her. She shook it away before rushing to face the door head on, weapon raised to fire. The doors slid open with a soft hiss and she was met with a pitch black room before her, no sign of movement to be seen - _even by her trained eyes._

A step forward and suddenly Amélie’s nose was assaulted with the overpowering, stomach twisting scent of _fresh blood_. The sniper brought a hand to her mouth to try and lessen the impact while the other clutched her firearm.

“ _Breathe…_ ”

Another step forward.

“ _Listen…”_

Two more steps forward.

“ _Feel_ …”

A soft hiss filled Amélie’s ears as the door slid shut behind her and her vision was consumed by the darkness of the room, panic filled her chest but something spoke deep inside her and her amber eyes narrowed in the darkness. Her programmed instincts kicked in, _the Widowmaker was at the front now._

Suddenly the scent of cigarette smoke hit her nose, mixing with the scent of blood and she bared her teeth, forcing her stomach to relax. Finally a soft purple glow came from behind her, illuminating the area in front of her and she reacted immediately, whirling around without a second's hesitation.

It was at that moment the lights flipped on and Amélie found herself blinded, growls came her throat and she lowered her weapon to shake away the white that consumed her vision. It took a few seconds until the aching white faded entirely and she could open her eyes once again to be ready for a fight.

But when she opened them, every part of her wished she never had.

Directly in front of her stood Angela, wearing some skin tight black uniform with dark grey armor and a cybernetic arm replacing her right arm - which Amélie quickly deducted had created the purple glow in the darkness as she spotted the colored light from between the plates of armor.

Worse still though was _the blood splattered across her form._

“Angela…?”

The sniper’s narrowed eyes dragged up and down her friend’s body, to the _bright purple_ hair atop her head, to the glowing purple irises staring into Amélie and right to the sickening smirk on those pale lips.

 _This was not Angela_.

“What did they _do to you_?”

There was a disgusted disbelief in Amélie’s voice, her gun never once lowering even as she took several steps back - which the doctor only matched step for step each time. A snarl came from Amélie and she gripped her gun even tighter, shaking her head when Angela just moved closer.

“ _Answer me, Ziegler!”_ She finally snapped, shouting at the smaller woman.

The increase of volume in Amélie’s voice made Angela stop and that sickening smirk on her face only grew wider as the cigarette sitting between those pale lips fell to the floor and was promptly snuffed out beneath the doctor’s spiked boots.

“I think you know the answer to that, _Widowmaker_.” The voice that came from the doctor wasn’t Angela’s at all, it was hollow, _almost mechanical_.

The taunt immediately had Amélie’s blood boiling, her instincts to remain cold and calm were not helping her here in this moment. Fingers flexed on the gun in her hands until suddenly Angela’s remaining human hand took its place over Amélie’s, ice cold fingers rubbing soothing circles over the sniper’s skin and coaxing her to lower the gun.

Instincts inside Amélie roared at her to _keep the gun raised_ , but she couldn’t. Angela’s hand on her own was enough to give her the hope that maybe her friend was _still in there_. With the gun lowered entirely, Amélie found the doctor’s cold metal hand placed on her cheek and forcing amber eyes to meet purple.

For one, _blissfully unaware_ moment, Amélie forgot Angela’s current appearance and found herself looking down at her friend - _sweet, innocent and smiling so damned bright._ The taller woman leaned into the cold metal and whispered, “I came to bring you back to Overwatch, you’re safe now I promise. But I was so scared for you, _chérie_...I-we thought we had lost you in Egypt.”

A soft noise came from Angela and pulled Amélie into her arms, cooing sweetly to the sniper and gently rocking her back and forth. Her voice sounded completely normal, bringing a sense of warmth and safety to Amélie as she spoke, “Oh my dear, Amélie…”

Amber eyes drifted shut as Angela’s hands stroked slow circles where they rested on the taller woman’s form, it was a blissful peace and in that moment - Amélie knew she had succeeded, Angela was still right there, was still herself.

 _In a split second that was robbed from her_.

“You did.”

Amélie’s eyes opened instantly as white hot pain shot through her abdomen, she snarled and pushed Angela away, one of her hands shooting down to the source of pain to find a knife protruding from her body. Instincts kicked back in as Angela lunged in to finish the job, the sniper’s hands grabbing the doctor’s wrists before she drove her knee forward into the smaller woman’s abdomen several times

“ _Merde,_ Angela! _Listen to me,_ I _know_ you can hear me.” Amélie spat out as the force from her attack sent the doctor back into the wall, her hand moving to clutch her wound as her own pain had her reeling.

“Angela is _gone_.” The hollow, mechanical voice slipping back into place over the one that the taller woman had just heard as a twisted Angela Ziegler started back towards the sniper.

_This was about to go very badly._

“They are _controlling_ you, _chérie. They are not your allies_. Fight this, just as I did. _You know you can._ ” Amélie pleaded with her friend, taking a step back even as Angela moved closer.

“I suppose that’s the excuse you’re telling yourself so you can sleep at night is it?” That voice taunted, the smirk that played on the doctor’s lips was all too evident in her voice.

Amélie’s eyes flashed with anger and the second the doctor stepped back into range, she brought her hands up to defend herself. Except in split second and with a series of movements so quick, Angela had one of the sniper’s wrists in her hand and on the verge of snapping bones. The next second?

_Her metal hand connected with Amélie’s face._

There was a deafening crack as bones broke, blood seeping from the taller woman’s nose and the cuts left on her skin from the edge of the metal plates covering the doctor’s cybernetic hand. _And god did it ever fucking hurt._

Even with all the advanced training that Talon had put Amélie through during her time with them, whatever they had done to Angela made her far too strong for the sniper. Her instincts were of no use to her here right now.

Amélie found herself freed of Angela’s grip until the cool metal hand found its way around the slender column of her throat and hauled her up off of the floor. The world spun and she found herself slammed back into a wall, her eyes refocusing to find glowing purple irises staring at her curiously.

“W-what did...t-they do to you…A-Angela…?” Amélie choked out as she stared at the woman who had once been her best friend and a cherished member of Overwatch.

“You are about to find out, Widowmaker. Talon’s renewing your _contract._ ” The doctor sneered out to the struggling sniper, her eyes flashing with pure amusement at the sight.

_That was bad._

Amélie had no other choices left, she would not let Talon get their hands on her again - otherwise Overwatch would take years to track them both down _._ As much as she hated to admit it to herself, they needed her right now even with Angela within her grasp

Once again, Amélie would have to abandon Angela to Talon’s control.

“Forgive me, Angela.”

Before the doctor could react, Amélie’s combat visor slid into place over her forehead and she slammed her head into Angela’s as hard as she could manage. The force caused Angela to drop Amélie and stumble back, clutching the bleeding gash in her face.

Amélie desperately scrambled to her feet even as the shattered head piece dug into her skin, she gripped the wall and moved to exit the room. But something was tugging her back, something inside her was making her hesitate and she turned her head to stare at Angela.

The doctor’s eyes shot up to meet Amélie’s and the sniper clenched her teeth, stating as she backed out of the room, “I will come back for you, I will free you, _chérie_...I promise you.”

“You are _dead,_  Lacroix. Start running. Now.” Angela spat out, her voice cracking, like a whip, dripping with hate and pushing Amélie to do as she was told - run.

As Amélie ran, alarms began echoing through the halls with the sounds of thundering steps as soldier’s rushed to close her in. But she did not stop, even as her wounds bled and every part of her wanted nothing more than to stay with Angela, she ran like it was the last thing she would do.

Though it very could be the last thing she ever did...

It wasn’t until she had dragged herself far out of the grasp of the Talon soldiers and threw herself back out into the cold, wet night did she stop. Collapsing to the ground under the weight of her pain and exhaustion, Amélie’s shaking bloodied hands fumbled with the handle of the knife but didn’t dare tug it out.

“ _Merde_ …” The french curse slipped past the woman’s lips followed with a half laugh, half sob as tears rolled out of her eyes.

With the last of her strength she tapped the button on her arm band and with one harsh breath slipping past her lips, she gave into the weight on her eyes.

_I'm so sorry Angela..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOOOO BOYYY  
> I LOVE TALON MERCY


	6. I am the Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amélie went to Talon HQ for one reason and one reason only - to save Angela Ziegler. When that failed and she lay broken and defeated, what else did she have left despite her guilt?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo I'm very sorry it took soo long to update, but ya know real life and all that jazz. But I am happy to finally update this fic and share with you guys this chapter that I am like supppperrrr mega proud of. Also please enjoy all that ripe Talon Mercy Badassery

_“Why? Why did you leave me to die?”_

The lilting tone Amélie was so familiar with was reduced to a painful rasp.

“A-angela..”

Amélie's voice cracked as she stared at the bloodied figure that could just scarcely be recognized as Angela, the pure white valkyrie suit stained crimson with her own blood and ripped. A shattered halo resting atop her head, a visual reminder of an innocence lost to the cruelty of man. Trails of that very same red ran down the side of her face, over a swollen eye and soaking into once beautiful, silken strands of hair that were covered in dirt.  

She gasped and fought down the intense wave of nausea building in her stomach as she moved her gaze lower, finally seeing the doctor’s arm. The sleeve of the suit was ripped away showing the grotesque, ripped mass of flesh that remained of her limb. Skin that once hid both muscles and the white of bone was ripped away, leaving both exposed to her eyes.

“Oh god…”

Guilt burned in Amélie’s chest as she was forced to look at Angela, to look upon her and see the price that Angela had to pay for _her_ weakness. The blood she had to spill because Amélie had failed her that day.

 _It was all too much for her to bear_.

Amélie collapsed back into the wall, a hand stifling the sobs which threatened to spill from her throat. Angela stood before her, swaying back and forth on unsteady feet. Blood pooling on metal floors and trailing after her as she stepped towards Amélie.

“I’m so, so sorry... _A-angela, I am so s-sorry.”_

A dry, pained laugh fell from Angela’s bloodied, torn lips. The noise grating against Amélie’s ears and making her cringe.

“Sorry? It will not bring me back.”

She tried to pry her eyes off of Angela, but she couldn’t. It was like some invisible thing was holding her gaze there, _forcing her look at her mistake_.

“Amélie, I told you to go...but I just wanted you to stay, I was scared and _I needed you.”_

Before Amélie could even open her mouth to speak, Angela was on her knees with blood spilling from her mouth. Anguished cries of pain followed the harsh rasping for air, tears slid from those almost lifeless sapphire eyes and over the blood that stained her cheeks.

_"You did this.”_

Amélie scrambled back away from Angela, her guilt pushing down on her chest and leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. She moved, forcing her legs to carry her down darkened hallways with agonized screams chasing her the whole way. But she did not stop, no matter how much her heart ached to take away Angela's pain.

_Her own guilt and fear pushing her to just._

_Keep._

_Running._

There was a loud crash of metal and a voice danced across the walls behind her, like a dark, haunting melody.

“No matter how far you run, no matter where in the shadows you choose to hide…”

Another crash of metal sounded out.

“I will _find_ you, Amelie Lacroix...because I am nothing but darkness because of you. And I will make you the killer you were born to be.”

**_Thud, thud, thud…_ **

It started, the heavy thuds. Pounding over and over like a war drum, Amélie swore it was beating in time with her own racing heart.  Amélie rasped for air as she felt the pounding in her chest, strong legs carrying her down darkened corridors as quickly as possible.

Red light filled the hall for the briefest of moments before fading away, leaving complete darkness before returning to light her path a few tense seconds later. The heavy thudding of metal boots against the floors chasing her every moment, never once fading from her ears.

**_Thud, thud, thud...._ **

She came to an intersection in the hallway, splitting off into three different directions, all leading…

well, _somewhere_.

With no idea where she was and no idea where she was heading, all Amélie knew she could do was _run._ As fast and as far as she could, through these blackened halls until she found _anything_. Harsh words playing over and over in her head, a cold reminder.

_You are dead, Lacroix…_

_Start running…_

_NOW._

**_Thud, thud, thud..._ **

The sound reverberated through her ears, pulling her away from those resounding words. Amélie looked back down the walkway she had just run up, gazing into the red glow of emergency lights that soon faded into complete darkness.

Yet she saw nothing, _she heard nothing_.

Nothing but the pounding of heavy boots against the floor, each step signaling that her demise was growing ever closer.

 _She did not have long_.

“ _Ooohh_ , Amélie~!”

The sickeningly sweet sing-song voice rang out, followed by a low grinding metal noise. As if there were claws dragging along the walls, it was an ear piercing noise that made Amélie gasp and cringe. Clutching at her ears to mute the sound.

She pressed herself into the wall at her back and drew in a harsh breath, listening as the screeching sound of metal on metal faded away. Leaving only those footsteps that seemed to echo down the halls.

 _But coming from every direction_.

_“This can’t be real, this CAN'T be rea-”_

Purple lights suddenly flooded the intersection of halls, covering more and more of the walls in a soft glow. The source of the footsteps far more clear now as the light came down one of the hallways to her right.

“Amélie...you cannot run from me, cannot run from _the guilt_.”

Before she could speak, before she could draw her next breath. Amélie found herself staring deep into glowing purple eyes, but there was nothing in the light of those eyes. So _alive_ , _burning_ yet so empty and cold.

Finally, Amélie let her eyes fall from those purples eyes and down onto the figure. No longer was she donning her bloodied valkyrie suit, but instead blackened armor was in its place. Revealed in the purple light cast from the metal arm and the red emergency lights faded in overhead, the shattered halo still sitting atop her head like an unholy crown.

Amélie gasped, stumbling back away from Angela for a second time but she was only matched step for step, unable to put any distance between them in such close quarters. As the distance between them closed, the sight of blood spattered across Angela’s blackened armor became clearer and clearer.

The scent of it made Amélie’s stomach twist into knots, mixing with the guilt lingering there. It was painful enough to get her to force herself farther away from Angela until she backed herself up into the wall. Trying desperately to rid herself of the smell that was making her sick.

“ _You_ left me to die, let them take me... _look what they’ve made me do_ . Look what I have become, because of _you_.”

“Ange-”

That metal hand swung forward then, barely leaving time for Amélie to react. It smashed into the wall where her head had been just seconds before, the force of the blow made the steel bend inwards. Trapping Angela’s arm in the wall, it was enough of a delay to allow Amélie a chance to escape and she ran as fast as she could.

“Amélie! I will find you, there is nowhere you can hide from me!”

Her feet pounded rapidly against steel floors and yet she seemed to go nowhere. The hallways never seemed to end, going on forever and ever. Amélie wasn’t sure how long she had been running, maneuvering through an endless maze. She wasn’t sure how long she had this gnawing sense of fear in her chest.

“ _S_ _top,_ this isn't real. _This can't be real!”_

Casting a glance back over her shoulder to see that all too familiar purple glow come into view, illuminating the walls behind her.

_How had she caught up so quickly?_

A laugh resounded down the hall then as Amélie forced herself to keep going, even as her muscles screamed for her to stop.

“ _Give up, Lacroix!_ You cannot run forever, I know you grow tired.”

But Amélie did not stop, rounding another corner to find herself in a wider hallway with doors spread out along the walls. She wasted no time in running to the first door, tugging desperately on the handle but with no luck.

“Come on! _Come on!”_ She spat out, pulling harder and harder trying to get it to open.

_It would not budge._

Desperation fueled her movements as she ran to the next door, over and over she tugged at the handle but it did not budge. Something inside her made her stop as her hands ceased their tugging, she stared until thoughts finally gave way to realization. These were clear glass double doors, like the ones found on the front of theaters while the first door had only been one solid door.

“What on earth…”

Amélie, despite the pounding footsteps getting ever closer, reached forward with an unsteady hand to touch the glass. It was cool under her palm, but through it she could see only darkness. There was a maddening familiarity to it as well, gnawing at her chest.

Like she had seen it once before.

_Somewhere._

Suddenly noise filled her ears all at once, it was like a crowd of people surrounded her and were passing into the doors but she knew she was alone. From the other side of the glass came the sound of an orchestra playing, it was a music so soft and gentle that it threatened to sweep Amélie away.

God there was something about this door, about the noises she was hearing.

 _It was all so familiar_.

She pulled her hand back suddenly like it had shocked her, the wave of memories hitting her hard. A series of sensations that had long since been lost to her conscious thought. The crowds, the sounds and…

 _Angela_.

Amélie pressed her hands back against the door as a glimpse of the doctor slipped through her mind, desperate to have that for just a moment longer. As soon as skin met glass, she was back there, in front of those theater doors with Angela at her side.

_“Your first big opening night, Amélie! Come on, we had better get you inside so you can get ready.”_

God for a split second, Amélie swore she could feel Angela’s hand on her arm. Eagerly pulling her along into the theater, into the music that threatened to pull her away all the same. For a single moment, it is all so very, very real.

Words passed through Amélie’s lips before she could even process them. Like her body was acting on the memory of what occurred that night.

“Promise you’ll still be here when it is over, chérie?”

_“Always, Amélie. I promise.”_

Cool air seemed to slide over the back of her neck like a gentle breeze was blowing, perhaps it was another remnant of this memory that had laid dormant inside her own head. How bittersweet this turned out to be, to catch a glimpse of the doctor as she once was.

_Happy, carefree…_

Amélie remembered having always wanted Angela to feel those things as she recovered from Talon’s reconditioning, it was a nightmare no one should have ever felt in the first place. But Amélie had, and now…

_Angela was living through it all the same, she would understand the pain._

Suddenly the cool air turned to ice in an instant, biting at her skin with an almost blinding sensation of pain that consumed her thoughts. It tore her focus away from the fading memory and a sharp gasp fell from her lips, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes.

Before she could move, before she could even take another breath. Steel fingers found their way onto the column of her throat, pressing down harshly into smooth skin and cutting off Amélie’s ability to breathe entirely.

“Always was a rather foolish promise, wasn’t it?”

Forced to face the source of the voice, Amélie found herself staring into darkness. But the fingers pushing into her throat reminded her that she was not alone, and that she was _not safe_. Her hands rising to grab at the metal arm hoisting her up off of the floor, desperately she rasped for air as the burning in her lungs grew stronger and stronger.

Violet light filled her vision, burning her eyes which had grown so used to the darkness of these halls. Another helpless gasp escaped her as shaking hands dug harder and harder into the blackened metal.

“ _An-angela…_ ”

Briefly the grip tightened and hollow laughter rang free. Black slipped into the edge of Amélie’s vision as the lack of air in her system became deadlier and deadlier by the second, soon she would pass out...

_Then she might never open her eyes again._

“P-pl...ple-please…” Amélie managed to choke out.

“She’s not here anymore, _remember?_ You let her go, let her be taken away by Talon when you could have helped her. If only you had stayed a second longer…”

“ _Fought a second harder…”_

The temperature of the steel fingers closing around her throat with growing pressure suddenly dropped to a near sub zero temperature. Amélie rasped painfully, her hands falling away from the metal which replaced human flesh as blistering cold seemed to burn her skin.

“Then _maybe_ none of this would have happened, maybe she would have never suffered like she did...but guess what?”

Air came rushing back into her lungs as Mercy finally loosened her grip and let Amélie fall to the floor. She desperately clawed at the grates, trying to pull herself away from Mercy but Amélie wasn’t moving fast enough to put any distance between them.

A response barely made it's way past Amélie’s lips but she forced it out with all the strength she could muster.

“W-what…?”

A metal boot pressed down onto her ankle, halting her attempts of escape.

“ _She’s gone and I am all that’s left._ ”

Amélie looked back at Mercy as she knelt down, the pressure bearing down on her ankle was _excruciating._ She choked, struggling to force air into her lungs while purple eyes regarded her with disgust until Amélie could not stand to look at her expression a second longer.

Snarls rumbled out of Mercy’s throat and pale fingers forced Amélie’s gaze back towards her. Amber met violet and the voice that slipped out to fill the silence was harsh, ringing sharply in Amélie’s ears.

“It’s time for you to wake up, Lacroix.”

 _Wake up_.

She was trapped in the light of Mercy’s eyes, being pulled in deeper and deeper unable to tear her gaze away. Those two words pounded within her mind over, and over until it was a mantra that started rolling off of her tongue without a warning.

_Wake up._

_Wak-_

_“Amélie_ , _wake up!”_

It was like the brakes had been slammed in a vehicle moving entirely too fast and Amélie was thrown violently forward into the reality of her situation. She was not in blackened, endless halls chased by the living personification of her regrets. Mercy was gone and she saw only darkness, heard nothing but a faint pounding in her ears.

“Come on, _Amy_. Wake up!”

The voice was in her ears, like whoever was speaking was right next to her. But Amélie found herself unable to move, unable to do anything at all. It wasn’t until she felt a familiar skull shape pressing against her cheek that she realized who was calling out for her from the darkness.

_Jesse._

Suddenly the world was spinning, or rather it _felt_ like it was in the total darkness. Amélie willed herself to fight but it felt like she was caught in the undertow of something, drowning in sensations that she couldn't remember and it left her gasping for air.

Then it was like she broke through the surface of the water, shooting forward into consciousness to find Jesse staring down at her with a worried expression. Her senses slowly returning as she struggled to find words, but just as words prepared to pass through her lips she was interrupted by a sharp pain in her stomach.

“ _Me-merde_ …”

The combat knife protruding from her abdomen was more than enough to tell her that was where the pain was coming from, she grasped at the handle of the weapon and shook her head. Pulling on the grip to try and free the blade from her body, but Jesse’s muffled voice echoed in her ears.

“Woah there, darlin’, I wouldn’t go touchin’ that. Just relax and enjoy the show, we’re here to get ya home.”

Her blurred vision cleared long enough for her to spot Reinhardt a few feet away, his shield up to hold back the tide of gunfire from Talon’s soldiers. Amélie gasped when she caught a glimpse of that all too familiar purple light, but her vision blurred once again and the light vanished.

“J-jesse…watc…”

A loud gunshot rang through the air, echoing several times over before it struck Reinhardt’s shield and cracked under the force. The German soldier grumbled as the cracks grew more and more defined. The gunfire pressed on.

“Barrier is giving out!”

Jesse called back at what Amélie assumed was the rest of their team, but her senses were failing again and the world was threatening to fall away around her. His metal hand squeezed her shoulder as he dragged her back at a brisker pace, trying to get her out of harm's way.

“Just hold on, we’ll get ya out of here. The drop ships right here.”

She made a small noise as he lifted up her up then, pulling her slowly up the ramp into the ship as best he could. Reinhardt was stepping back towards them when his shield gave in, leaving him exposed to the gunfire.

“Lay down covering fire! Reinhardt, fall back, we’re getting out of here!”

The accompanying Agents and several recruits fired past Reinhardt at the vehicles that the Talon soldiers were using as cover, forcing them down out of their line of sight so they were unable to return fire. Mercy watched as several unlucky soldier’s fell under the onslaught of gunfire, a scowl crossing over her lips before she reached for her weapon.

 _A tiny blaster_.

Mercy glared at the small white sidearm, tarnished with dirt and scratches alike. It was a simple reminder of something long gone, and it was far too small to cause any sort of damage. A disgusted noise fell from her lips as she tossed it aside, she would have to find something _much bigger_.

Amélie was fading back into an unconscious state when Reinhardt dashed onto the dropship, she groaned painfully as the world shifted around her and caused her wound to ache. Jesse was only able to provide so much stability as he eased her down into a chair, strapping her in.

“Everyone back in, we’re takin’ off!”

But as the Overwatch agents fell back inside, Talon reemerged to return fire and this time they only had to aim for the ship. Bullets struck the hull, the symphony of shots connecting with the armor echoed through Amélie’s head and a dull ache burned inside her skull.

She almost didn’t hear the orders being shouted at Talon’s soldiers over the sound of the bullet fire and the roar of the engines as they lifted off into the air.

“ _Bring it down!"_

_It was Mercy._

Amélie looked to Jesse then, grabbing the poncho which hung around his shoulders to force him to pay mind to her. His eyes went wide as she tugged on him, but his attention was on her and that was all she needed.

“Je-jesse...they...h-have her. _Ang_ …”

He looked confused, _why was he not listening?_

“An-angela…”

Still nothing.

With a growl, Amélie undid the straps holding her in place so she could stand and ripped the peacekeeper from his hand. It wasn’t her rifle but it would have to do the trick for now. Amélie stumbled to the door of the dropship and saw Mercy down below, her eyes widening as she watched the doctor rip the heavy weapon from the arms of a fallen soldier and take aim.

Oh no.

Amélie lifted the revolver up with a shaking hand, using her other to brace herself against the wall so she didn’t collapse. The movement of the ship didn’t help her aim any but she focused, drawing in ragged breaths and leveling out the sights onto the glowing metal arm. It was an easy target.

The gun in Mercy’s hands was winding up to fire, Amélie could feel the sneer on the doctor’s face burning into her skin as she aimed right back at her. It was a standoff of sorts, one that Amélie had no intentions of losing.

Finally the shot rang out and a split second later, the bullet ripped through the armor plating of Mercy’s metal arm. With more than enough force to sever it. Both the lower half of her arm and the weapon dropped to the dirt at her feet.

Amélie let out a breath of relief that she hadn’t missed her shot, before she too collapsed. Jesse’s peacekeeper sliding out of her grip and skittering across the floor a few feet from where she lay.

 _Sorry, Angela_ was the last thought to pass through her mind before her vision and mind slipped back into darkness.

Violet eyes narrowed as the dropship sped away into the safety of the skies, and once it was out of sight, Mercy lowered her gaze to the battlefield. Bodies lay scattered throughout the grass and she looked back at the wall, _at Icarus_.

The head of Talon was staring back at her from his place upon the wall and suddenly his voice came through the piece in her ear.

“Dispose of the corpses, burn them. Leave no trace.”

Mercy gave only a small nod back at the man, shutting her comms piece off and turning to the nearest soldier still standing. _Surely this would be easy_.

“Clean up these fools, have them sent to my infirmary. For disposal.”

The soldier clearly looked confused and Mercy frowned, either this man was deaf or just plain stupid. Regardless, she hadn’t the time to care and so she repeated herself. Hoping that this time, he would just follow orders.

“All bodies, to the infirmary. Direct order from Icarus.”

That seemed to kick the man into gear, he immediately saluted and began barking out orders to the others. Mercy finally cast her gaze down towards her metal arm which lay dormant on the ground, the purple lights within no longer active due to the severance with the rest of the limb.

“Hmm...even when injured, _she’s still one hell of a shot._ ”

Lifting the dead limb up from the dirt, Mercy inspected the damage done and smirked. The bullet had gone clean through the metal joint, it caused an almost immediate cut between the signal’s from her brain and the arm itself. Mercy cast one last look towards the sky before turning around to retreat inside Talon’s headquarters.

Icarus stood watching her until she disappeared from his sight, likely returning to her lab to repair the damage done to herself. _Or something_. He mused quietly until Sombra appeared at his side, letting out a sigh as she stared out at the bodies.

“I warned you, Icarus.”

He turned to glare at her then.

“Warned me of _what, exactly?”_

She gestured out towards the mess of bodies and ruined vehicles, shaking her head at just how _slow_ he was to get it. How could he not see it?

“Of _this_. Do not ignore the warnings, Icarus. You have built something that cannot be controlled.”

When Sombra made to turn and leave him to think in peace, Icarus reached for her. The grip he placed on her shoulder was enough to stop her in her tracks, and she turned her head to stare at him.

“No, I built something that will change the future of Talon. Something that will help us remove Overwatch from play for _good_.”

Sombra just rolled her eyes, shrugging off his hand and walking away without another word. The man was too buried in his own hopes and dreams for his little science project’s potential that he was blind to the danger of it, it was hopeless to convince him otherwise.

“You will see Sombra, you will all see it in due time. I have built something that was _made_ to be controlled. Mercy is Talon’s greatest achievement!”

Her final words came from under her own breath, muttered words that Icarus would not hear even if she had spoken them aloud. Perhaps if she had dissuaded him from ever pursuing this plan to begin with, then just maybe these things would have never happened.

_He hadn’t built Talon’s greatest achievement._

“You have built it’s downfall.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL SHIT.


	7. The Flight Of Icarus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Never regret thy fall, O Icarus of the fearless flight  
> For the greatest tragedy of them all Is never to feel the burning light.” - Oscar Wilde

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELP, enjoy this update and all 7k+ words <3

“Amélie... _you and your damned aim.”_

Mercy cursed silently as she stared at the shattered remnants of her metal arm, removed from the socket on her shoulder and laid out on a tray in pieces. All so the replacement arm could be attached in its place, allowing her to continue with her valuable work. It was something Talon had been working on for awhile, she knew that much and the scientist who designed it was being _far too enthusiastic_ for her liking.

She lifted her good arm to cut him off mid sentence, nodding in direction of the new arm before speaking, “I’m glad Talon has put so much... _thought,_ into this equipment for me. But I must ask…”

The scientist gulped.

“You are _absolutely_ certain Icarus does not know of the little _additions_ I had you put in, yes?”

Fidgeting with his glasses, the man took a shaky breath.

“He knows I pulled some extra funding into the project but he believes it is for the additional armor plating, nothing more.”

Mercy rose from the examination table where she sat and approached the case which held the newly upgraded metal arm. She flicked open the locks without hesitation, pulling the lid up to finally get a good look at the device inside.

“Hmmm, I do not say this often...but I am impressed that you were able to get all those upgrades into it and still have it look exactly the same.”

She silently mused as she lifted the arm up out of the case, immediately noticing the weight difference. Balancing it on her hand to get a feel for the device's new properties, the weight difference was hardly noticeable. But it was still a difference none the less. She cast a harsh glare over her shoulder, the scientist toying with the collar of his shirt nervously under her gaze.

“There is a very different feel between this arm and the last I am afraid, Mercy. It was unavoidable with the additions we had added for you. But it is not something Icarus will pick up on.”

She lifted the arm up towards the socket on her arm, grumbling under her breath as the magnetic locks pulled the piece into place with a soft hiss. Still and silent, she sat for several moments as the purple lights within the arm finally flickered to life. The arm rebooting, syncing with her nervous system and then finally she felt dulled sensations returning.

“Well it is satisfactory, I prefer this weight over the original if I am being frank about it. I can rely on this piece and _not_ be let down again.”

The man looked equal parts relieved and frightened by her statement, an indirect threat towards him if a repeat incident was to occur. He quickly stammered out, “T-thank you, Doctor! I p-personally guarantee its functionality!”

Last thing she need right now was this _fool_ stumbling over his words and trying to make sure he was on her good side.

_Not there was anything he could do about that._

She huffed, quickly gesturing towards the door.

“ _Would you kindly_ leave then? I have work to do and I cannot have you interrupting me any longer.”

 Briskly, he turned to exit the lab and the doors slid open at the exact moment that the infirmary lights shut off behind him. He had no idea about the darkness suddenly at his back, and no idea what was waiting to strike from within.

“Actually...wait a moment. I have _one last use for you._ ”

“What is i-”

He did not get the chance to finish his sentence, the smell of cigarette smoke assaulted his nose and choked off his words. The scent alone caused him to gag, turning his face away from source. Metal fingers covered his mouth then, catching him off guard as another hand dragged him back into the dark room.

The infirmary doors slid shut with a soft click moments later, leaving silence to overtake the hallways outside. There was a low grinding noise that interrupted the eerie quiet for all but several moments before it too faded away entirely.

Sombra watched this all occur through her screen, standing up from her desk and pressing a finger to her earpiece. There was a faint buzzing from the piece until finally a connection was made and Sombra spoke before the person on the other end could.

“She just killed your head scientist, Icarus, I have video footage right here. Have I not been warning you of this ever since you decided to go through with this?”

Icarus snarled from the other end of the line, “Sombra, I am off base and yet you continue to spew this nonsense to me. I would have been informed by the scientist himself if he thought that Mercy was of any risk to Talon and it’s assets. He is fine.”

“Call him then, right now.”

There was an unamused grumble from the other end followed by the sound of small clicks as another line was opened to the scientist in question. Sombra held her breath and waited, each ring that echoed out made her heart race a little bit faster.

Finally there was an answer.

“Ah, hello…? I-icarus?”

“Doctor Isaacs, I trust everything is holding up at base?”

There was a soft noise from the Isaacs’ end but it was far too faint to pick up on, Sombra huffed in frustration. _Just what exactly was Mercy up to?_

“Oh y-yeah...ever- _ah_ -everything's just fine! Z-ziegler just received her replacement arm.”

Icarus seemingly satisfied with the man’s response, gave a slight laugh and replied with a coy tone to his voice that Sombra just _knew_ was meant for her, “Excellent, I shall leave you to it then.”

With that he hung up and Sombra immediately interjected, “Something was happening on his end sir, and you’re playing dumb if you tell me you didn’t suspect something.”

“Sombra, frankly I have had quite enough of this nonsense you’re spewing. You and I both know that she couldn’t _possibly_ turn against Talon or it’s employees under the influence of those drugs we keep her on. So kindly refrain from contacting me again unless there is an _actual_ emergency.”

Did he just…

_Hang up on her?_

“That _son of a bitch_..."

Exhausted and very much annoyed, Sombra threw down her earpiece onto the desk. A wave of spanish curses slipping past her lips as she threw her hands up in defeat, she really should have known that Icarus was too far gone to be reasoned with about the dangers. And she knew Mercy _had something up her sleeve_.

Sombra looked back towards her screens, watching as ‘Doctor Isaacs’ was once again dragged into the infirmary. Over and over the video played, each time she saw the fear flash in his eyes as clear as day.

“If Icarus does not want to listen then fine - _he can figure it out for himself._ ”

* * *

_She is evil…_

_You have built something that cannot be controlled._

Icarus lips pursed into a wicked grin as he thought back on those words, a warning shared with him by Sombra. Her warnings were wrong, she just did not _believe_ in his work and that would be her own cross to bear when the time came.

He lowered the cigar from his lips, letting the smoke roll out into the backseat of the escort vehicle. Its engine hummed gently yet it was still the only sound he could hear, the outside world muted to him through a layer of bullet proof glass and soundproofing.

“Sombra’s nonsense still bothering you, boss?”

His eye flickered to the screen in front of him, refocusing on the conversation he had been in the middle of having.

“Our hacker seems to have gone quiet after her call several hours ago, so I assume all is well. But I am sure that is not what you want to talk about.”

Laughter rang out sharply and the man on the other end spoke, “You just spent the last hour talking about how _great_ this latest project is, sir. I doubt there is anymore you _could_ say.”

_And the goal of it all was to convince you that this project is only going to better Talon, yet it seems to still have failed._

Icarus fought back those words and instead chose a far more respectful approach to the dilemma at hand.

“Why do you not sound convinced?”

“Hmm, well _maybe_ because the treatment you authorized is a highly experimental procedure. And let's not forget _the last time_ you did something like this and claimed the subject would only help Talon.”

Of course he had to bring Widowmaker into this mess. Anything to ruin the trust his forces had in his own judgement, Icarus was willing to take the responsibility of ensuring Mercy’s well being and _cooperation._ But were they really all so hopelessly lost in the past that they could not see the ripe potential of having the world’s most talented doctor as their puppet to manipulate?

“I _personally_ assure you, another week of administering the drugs to her and you will not meet a more compliant soldier on this planet. She is a marvel of science, truly.”

There was a scoff from the other end. _Ignorant fool_.

“All these promises don’t mean anything without seeing it for ourselves, boss. All you have is gone on and on about all th-”

A robotic voice interjected, “You have an incoming call from headquarters.”

“Well I am done here, patch them through.”

Icarus muttered a quick goodbye before switching over to the new call with an impatient growl. Silently praying that it wasn’t Sombra once again trying to convince him that what he was doing with _the_ Doctor Angela Ziegler would only end in ruin.

“Report, Commander.”

“Mercy...has begun experimentation on the corpses of the men we lost in the attack per your orders an-”

“My orders? _I never gave those orders, soldier._ ” Icarus snapped.

“The experimentation, sir? She said it was a direct order passed down from you? She even gave me the correct authorization code and ever-”

“ _Driver, turn this car around immediately._ Commander, I will deal with this myself once I am back. You are not to speak of this to anyone, understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

“And this had better be a grave error or someone will be losing far more than just their position upon my return. _Is. that. Clear?”_

There was an audible gulp from the other end before the commander finally worked up the courage to speak, “Affirmative. It will be kept quiet.”

With that the call was ended and Icarus leaned back into his seat as the car swung back around. Surely this had to be some sort of error, Mercy would not - _rather could not_ especially not while under the influence of the medication they were dosing her with.

He extinguished his cigar and grumbled under his breath. Of course someone was wrong, Icarus had absolute faith in Mercy.

After all…

_She was Talon’s greatest creation, was she not?_

* * *

Mercy wheeled a small cart into the infirmary and over towards the operating table, the doors leading in locked shut behind her with a heavy thud. The noise visibly startled one Doctor Isaacs, his whole body jerked in the restrains to the sudden sound and the introduction of light to his strained vision.

“Ah, good you are awake. I was afraid I was going to have to give you an adrenaline shot to rouse you from your sleep.”

Metal fingers connected with the man’s cheek, giving a small tap against already sweat soaked skin to taunt the poor fool. She forced his gaze to meet her own when he struggled against leather straps to tear his head away from her touch, likely wanting her a thousand miles away. Mercy smirked when the fear in his eyes became _all too visible_ with each tap she placed against his skin, oh this was going to be so much fun.

“Now, now, Isaacs. You have nothing to fear from me, I am simply going to perform a little maintenance on you and that is all.”

Her tongue clicked as she straightened out, moving her attention down to his right leg which she had shattered herself. As far as she knew, the bones underneath his skin were in total fragments and therefore rendering his whole leg completely useless.

 _A little amputation would fix that_ _right away_.

“Now...to use anaesthesia or not?”

Her ears picked up the grunts coming from her patient on the table and she turned her head to glare at him. There was a desperation flashing in his eyes, a wordless, desperate plea for her to show _mercy._

But was he not the one who had been in her shoes only weeks prior and chosen to show none?

“Well, I suppose that answers my question then...no anaesthesia it is.”

She went about preparing her tools for the procedure, listening to the confused noises coming from Isaacs. A growl fell from her pale lips as the sound grated at her patience, placing her tools gingerly down onto the cart. Mercy turned and approached the table, pulling the leather strap from the man’s mouth.

“ _Y_ _-you_...can't d-do this…”

“Well now see, that is where you are mistaken, sir. I _can_ do this and I fully intend on seeing it through. After all…”

She forced the strap back in between his teeth, turning back towards the cart with a soft laugh.

_"It’s exactly what you did to me."_

Those words set something off in the doctor, he tugged against his bindings with a growing desperation. The panic in his muffled cries became far more audible, bringing a comforting sense of satisfaction bubbling up inside Mercy’s chest. It was the realization that she remembered what he had done to her, that the project had ultimately failed and Talon was no longer in control.

Alone.

Trapped.

Helpless.

She remembered that she too had felt all of those things once, strapped to a table much like her patient was now. Oh, how she remembered how scared and helpless she felt as he and his assistants experimented on her like she was their _toy_. A personal plaything there only for their amusement, to use however they saw fit.

_Mercy would make sure they all suffered, every last one would feel what she did._

_Deep breaths, Doctor. Time to work._

Mercy chuckled and pressed a button on the wrist of her metal arm. Moments later, the low gentle hum of a violin filled the air of the infirmary and drowned out the struggling of her patient. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder, grinning at the evident confusion on his face and how it made him cease resistance if but for a moment.

It was entirely too tempting for her _not_ to say something that would only succeed in further confusing him, and so she did not resist.

_It might even grant a false sense of security._

_Not that she particularly cared._

“You like this one? Devil’s Trill Sonata, G minor, 1799...a _very_ old piece and unsurprisingly a little tough to track down these days, but I have my ways now. Thanks to Talon and it’s unlimited resources, of course.”

Lifting the scalpel from the cart carefully, Mercy brought it up to inspect under the light. This was much to the disapproval, or rather fear, of the man currently strapped down to her operating table. Mercy heard his muffled objections but simply chuckled, instead choosing to focus on the music playing.

“Say, Doctor Isaacs, if you make it through this...you and I will go see a show together. Surely _someone_ out there is still performing classical music. It would be magnificent to hear it in person instead of over the dreadful speakers. Ah, but we will discuss this more afterwards.”

She waited for a response, only to hear more yelling stifled by that simple leather strap. A wicked smirk drew across her face, shaking her head before she turned to face the table. Metal fingers shifted and gave way, reforming into the shape of a small saw-like blade.

_"Now let us get started."_

Before she could even begin to slice through flesh and shattered bones, screams tried to fight their way from the man’s throat. Each attempt only being drowned out by thick leather and the slow, pleasant hum of music from the overhead speakers. The fear rolled off of him in tangible waves that only further motivated Mercy’s actions.

“Please, hold still.”

Steel met flesh in an instant and with trained hands, Mercy began her work. The violent struggling that began at once however, would cause a serious problem for even the most _experienced_ doctors such as herself. But she fought through it, for the sake of her work.

_She would fight through it._

Her eyes met his as she cut further and further in, sparks of fear and pain flashing through his irises along with a wave of other emotions. _Like a storm._ Something about it was so painfully familiar, a dull ache pounded in her skull and the motion of her metal arm ceased.

_Mercy…_

_Mercy…_

_Who was she?_

Lord, have _mercy…_

She remembered cold liquid surrounding her, the feeling of being submerged and the ache of fear in her chest at the thought of drowning. A mask was her only hope of not meeting that fate, her only hope of not being consumed by everything weighing down.

“You…”

Her voice was cracking, breaking under the weight of a pain that felt as if it was both her own and not, all at once. Something inside her chest was struggling to claw its way out, like a beast rattling its cage. A bitter bile rising up in her throat as she snarled and forced the feeling away with all she had.

_Any one human’s suffering is worth it in the end…_

_So make sure she suffers…_

Words echoed in her head over and over, like she had heard them before but not through her own ears. As if someone else’s memories were stuck inside her head, buried beneath something that kept them from slipping out. And now that very same barrier was failing, breaking under a weight it couldn't bear and allowing lost memories to seep into her mind. 

Violet eyes flashed angrily as she regained her composure, the pain in her chest fading fast. Her voice, dark and smoky slid back into place to shield the cracks of a vulnerability she hadn’t known to exist within her own head.

“ _What...did you do to me?”_

Tears were spilling from his eyes, sweat coated his now pale skin and he was shaking hard in his restraints. But he had nothing for her, no muffled cries for salvation or pain anymore. No last ditch attempts to pin the blame on one of his co-workers, no, he gave her nothing but _silence. Like he had resigned himself to this terrible fate and would do nothing more for her._

A powerful raw hatred built up in her chest without so much as a warning, a disgusted scowl crossing over her lips.

“Fine, don’t want to talk? _I’ll make sure you can't.”_

Mercy growled out and pushed the weapon down harder into his leg in frustration, the blade sawing through muscles and shattered bones alike. Blood poured from the open gash faster, spilling out onto Mercy’s boots and the steel floors. His bout of silence did not last long once she got started again, for the sound of muted screams quickly overpowered the dark tones of the the violin.

She could not risk having anyone hear her working and then come in to ruin the moment, _her moment._

“Volume to 45.”

The music rose in volume as she ordered, just in time to mask the violent cry that came from him as the blade finally severed through flesh and bone. Blood was everywhere at this point, across the floors and even on the ceiling above their heads. The restrained man was losing it faster too, his will to fight fading quickly.

She could try to save him, to stop the bleeding and repair the damage done with a wave of her hand.

But it would be far less work to simply sit there and watch him die.

“Ah, but it is for naught. It seems I have done all I can.”

Her calm voice did nothing to help Isaacs, the man barely clinging to life now as Mercy walked away from him. The violin played frantically in the background, nearly as frantic as Isaacs movements were with his last ditch attempt to escape.

There was a snort of derision that came from Mercy, her bladed arm shifted back into the shape of a hand and gripped the cleaning cloth to wipe away all traces of blood. Her free hand pulled a cigarette from the pouch on her hip, bringing it up to rest between her pale lips.

“You know, in another life we may have gotten along Doctor Isaacs. I will not deny that you are brilliant at what you do, but...I’m afraid you used those talents on the wrong person.”

Smoke rose into the air as the cigarette was lit and Mercy exhaled sharply with the decrescendo of the music still playing in the background. She tilted her head back, letting her eyes drift shut as she tried to focus on the piece.

_He was being too loud._

“Volume to 80.”

Immediately the violin rose in volume at her command, drowning out her patient’s final struggling moments in this life. It was a fitting scenario for such an extravagant piece of classical music, Mercy could not deny the poeticism in this very moment.

“Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?"

Isaacs cast her one last scornful glance, knowing she would be the last thing he ever saw in this world. A kind soul twisted into the darkest thing possible, twisted by his own hands and now the thing responsible for his death. He would die with the sight of her shattered halo and blood spattered across her face forever etched into his eyes. To see the smoke curling up past violet eyes as darkness fell across his vision.

_Death itself was watching his passing._

When finally Mercy heard the sound of the heart rate monitor flat lining beneath the waves of violins, she gave one final command to shut the music down. As silence returned to the infirmary once more, she lowered the cigarette from her lips to speak.

“Bring in the cadavers, my work has only just begun.”

* * *

Icarus stormed into Talon headquarters some hours later with fury in his eyes, the commander who had called him back rushing forward to meet their esteemed leader with a panicked look on his face.

“You are absolutely certain that this is not an error commander?”

“A hundred percent sure, Icarus. She signed these and everything.”

Stealing the holopad away from his commander’s hands, Icarus read it. Then several more times to ensure that his _single_ eye was not playing some sort of trick on him, but alas, there was her signature and the confirmation code as clear as day. It was a truth that he still denied, _there was just no way._

He shoved the device back into the soldier’s arms and started forward, keeping a brisk pace. Through the halls he marched, his men struggling to keep up with him on his warpath.

_Mercy could not have gone rogue._

_She just couldn’t have…_

_right?_

“Where is she?” Icarus snapped, forcing himself to ignore the nagging doubts in his head.

“Still in her lab I believe, sir. _Working_.”

“You _believe?_ I want a hundred and ten percent confirmation that she is in that infirmary before I go marching in!”

He rounded a corner, getting closer and closer to those fated doors when a technician called out from behind them.

“Confirmation, she’s been in there for several hours now and is still present.”

“Good, stand back and let me deal with this. Since none of you seem to be _at all capable_ of doing it yourselves.”

His men stopped trailing after him when he snapped at them like that, watching as he just walked up and through the doors without so much as a knock. When Icarus stepped into the doorway however and his eyes landed on the sight laid out before him, he immediately wished that he hadn’t.

Mercy had her back to him, standing over one of several cadavers that his men had collected from the scuffle with Overwatch forces. Some sort of classical music played in the background as the low buzz of a saw reached his ear.

_So she really had disobeyed a direct order..._

“What do you think you are doing!? I did not allow this! _”_ Icarus roared at Mercy, the rage all too evident in his voice as he crossed the threshold between the hallway and her infirmary. The doors shutting behind him with a soft click .

In that moment Mercy if had heard him, she simply chose not to respond and instead kept focus on the subject in front of her on the exam table. Her trained hands delicately shifting as she soldered in the metal frame work for this particular soldier’s cybernetic implants.

“ _Mercy, look at me when I am speaking to you_.”

She stopped moving then, his voice having dropped dangerously low. A heavy, exasperated sigh passed through her lips as she wiped the blood from the tool on her metal arm. When she turned to face him, the anger was clear as day on his face while Mercy herself just looked exhausted.

Then he went off at her.

Words came pouring out of his mouth a mile a minute, he was _evidently very, very angry now._ Not that she really cared what he was saying anyways, choosing to instead tune his words out. As he went on and on, Mercy calmly stood there watching him make extravagant hand motions in his moment of anger. Satisfied that the tool on her metal arm was clean, she shifted it back into the shape of her hand.

His rant continued even as she wiped the blood from her face and bigger spots on her uniform. Finally, after several minutes. She reached the limit of her patience with the man’s yelling, tossing the bloodied cloth aside and shifting her attention to Icarus fully.

“-these are _my_ men and not once did I give you the authorization to perform experiments on them, especially those that _died_ when we had the run in with Overwatch. Disrespecting the dead is no-”

She lifted her metal hand, cutting him off without a word. Which from the look of it, only succeeded in pissing him off more. She smirked at the flash of rage that showed on his face, tilting her head as she spoke up, “Are you quite done?”

“You would dar-”

“Ah, ah, ah...you have had your chance to speak, and you have wasted your words.”

“ _How dare you speak to me like that_ . You forget I _built you_ and you are crossing a line here that I will not allow for another seco-”

She stalked up to him, playfully patting his cheek which cut him off yet again. Then slowly she circled him, moving much like a predator would when stalking its prey. Dragging her metal fingers across his shoulder blades, she could feel the rage pouring off of him and it only succeeding in further amusing her.

“Now, before you go off the handle bars again old man. Listen to me. _You_ , very clearly, told me the day you gave me access to this room that I would have the freedom to work _without rules_.”

Another step.

_"Without constraints.”_

Her metal fingers danced up along his arm.

_"Without being held back by petty morality."_

He opened his mouth to speak again but her fist connected with his jaw, sending him reeling into the empty exam table. It caved under his weight and both were sent crashing to the infirmary floor. Mercy started towards where he lay, the lights within her metal arm flaring up as she flexed her fingers. This was going to be so very satisfying to do, and there was not anything that anyone or anything could do to stop her.

“So tell me Icarus, why now are you affected by a moral compass? You of all people?”

“Because you are playing with the lives of _dead men_ , men that would not want to be brought back looking like _machines."_ Icarus managed to snarl at her as he sat up slowly, wiping the blood from his lip.

Mercy grinned at that, the solitary spark of defiance. The illusion where he believed that he was still in control of this situation, _in control of her._ Looking down upon him with amusement blazing in her eyes. Oh, it was simply precious how he still thought that he had _control._

“Not want to be brought back as machines? Funny...isn’t that exactly what you have done to me?”

Before Icarus could speak, she quickly added with a wave of her hand.

 _"No, no_...you called me, what was it? _Talon’s greatest achievement?”_

His jaw dropped at those words, the ones he had spoken only to Sombra. Mercy reached down to play with the collar of his suit before picking at it briefly, withdrawing her hand to reveal a small circular device barely larger than a fingernail.

“Don’t worry, your little hacker didn’t betray you...I simply had you bugged from the start. And oh, the things I have heard.”

A ‘tsk’ fell from her lips then, watching as he scrambled to defend himself. Not that it was readable on his face but she could see the panic in his eyes, she could so clearly see that he was _afraid._

“I do not care about that, what I care about is you _playing god."_

His voice was oddly defiant for a man that was obviously so scared though. _Good,_ it would be fun breaking him down into nothing. Much like he and his companions had done to her, tore her very soul into pieces to leave...

well...

to leave behind _her._

“You’re worried about me playing god? _Is that not why you created me in the first place?_ To ‘play god’ for Talon’s use so that you might finally be rid of Overwatch? After what you and your people have done to me, you lost the right to be able to tell me what I can and cannot do.”

“How do you…?"

Mercy grinned wickedly.

“Computer, playback feed from infirmary...approximately two hours ago.”

A small screen appeared in the palm of her metal hand, growing larger so he could watch very clearly what was playing. The image of Doctor Isaacs strapped down to the operation table flashed onto the device and began to move, it took Icarus only mere seconds to realize what she had done to him.

Icarus’ face went white as Mercy shut the screen down, the realization dawning upon her as she looked at his face. A sickening laugh rose to meet such thoughts and she continued, “You thought your drugs would erase _those_ memories didn’t you? That just like _that_ , you could wipe away all the pain and torment you inflicted upon me?”

“Now, now...there is no nee-”

She brought her foot forward into his chest with a violent kick, forcing him back down onto the floor. His gasps for air only further fueling the rage that was boiling over in her chest, much like it had with Doctor Isaacs. He would pay soo very dearly for what he had done to her, she would ensure that.

“Thought I would forget what _you did to me,_ hmm? Well I do not remember much, but I do remember the pain. Those memories came back almost shockingly quick.”

He struggled to rise back up to his feet but Mercy acted quickly, pressing her metal boot down into the center of his chest. Her eyes flared up and the fingers of her metal hand flexed once again, watching as he helplessly fought against the weight of her foot.

Desperately he pounded on the metal but she had him trapped, much like he had thought he had trapped her this whole time. The pressure on his chest made it nearly impossible to breathe, his voice raspy and weak as he spoke, “T-this...wasn't supp-osed to ha-happen...like t-this.”

“You’re right, it wasn’t, Icarus. You could have built a new form of weapon, a city under the damned ocean for all anyone cared! _Not this again_.”

She snarled.

“And I had other plans for Talon, to manipulate and twist this organization from behind the scenes. But I see now I must do it myself.”

" _Ziegler, stop this!"_

Mercy tilted her head at that, _Ziegler_ , something about that name was familiar. So achingly familiar, but it was not something she could call forth to memory. The blaze in her eyes burned ever more powerful at the frustration, the rage in her chest pounded and ached in time with the beat of her heart.

“What did you do to me?”

_Silence._

Her hateful stare bore into his chest with nearly as much force as her boot was, a warning of what his further silence on the topic would mean for him. But Icarus remained resolute, holding his tongue from spilling anything more. He would take his sins with him to his grave it seemed, and if that's how he wanted it to be who was Mercy to deny him that?

“Is a name all you have to offer me? And now your silence? Is that what you think I want?”

His gaze moved from her face, lifting to stare at the ceiling as if he refused to acknowledge her any longer. Refused to acknowledge his failed creation, and how it would bring about . And his voice, _God that bastard’s voice_. There was no hint of the fear that she before could so clearly see in his eyes, he was fighting it even in the end.

"Never regret thy fall, O Icarus of the fearless flight...”

Her eyes narrowed and lips curled back to expose bared teeth at his words, the defiant spewings of a desperate man in his final moments. The complete and utter acceptance of his own death made anger boil over in her veins, he was supposed to be _scared_ of her.

With a deep breath, Mercy cooled herself. Icarus had been a foolish coward, plain and simple. This was the death he deserved and as such it would be the death he faced today, regardless of how defiant he was.

“For the greatest tragedy of them all is never to feel the burning light."

His self righteous dialogue continued as her metal fingers shifted toward her waist, closing around the grip of her new firearm. She tugged it free from its holster and brought it down to level with his skull, fighting the shaking that tried to make its way down to her fingers.

“And though my life draws to a close in this hour, this, my legacy here will remain true through it all. _I_ will remain true until the moment my heart ceases to beat."

The hammer clicked back with an almost deafening sound, Mercy swore it echoed several times over in her head.

"We took her from you."

_Wait what?_

Her eyes narrowed and she shifted her fingers on the firearm, waiting for him to continue.

"Who you once were, we had her begging for death by the time we were done with her. She was weak, _pathetic,_ but from her suffering, her agony. I made you..."

_"My Angel of Death."_

His words became like white noise, nails dragging across a chalkboard at an almost deafening pitch. Grating against her nerves and fanning the burning rage she was already struggling to control, but like gasoline it set her whole body ablaze. And there was no force in existence that would have stopped her hatred from manifesting, turning it action at last. 

“For the love of god, shut your mouth.” 

Those were the last coherent words she spoke before she was consumed.

_She saw red cloud her vision_

_And everything happened at once._

When Mercy pulled her mind back into a calmed state and felt the rage in her chest fading, she looked to see she was knelt directly on top of Icarus. Her firearm had been tossed aside and a different weapon of execution had been chosen to bring about his end in her fit of rage. Blackened steel fingers were soaked red with blood, and the contrast was beautiful to her. Forcing her gaze away, violet eyes finally landed onto the man himself.

_The sight was far more satisfying than words could describe._

Her own hand had torn open the man's throat, ripping from him the very voice he used to taunt her. His face beaten to a bloodied pulp and his sole eye, void of any and all life. Honestly, his face was beaten in almost to the point where it would be unrecognizable to anyone who entered the room now.

Slowly, Mercy rose up from Icarus' side, pausing briefly to wipe her hand on the front of his suit to wipe away the blood. She cast a smirk down at his lifeless corpse and the ever-growing pool of blood beneath his body, the sight of it alone sent a wave of comfort through her body.

Mercy stepped back from him, lighting up a cigarette and stood there blowing smoke from her lips that were curled up with a wicked smirk. Regarding the great Icarus through violet eyes. Revenge truly was the sweetest, especially now as she saw her own reflection in his blood.

“Oh Icarus, how far you have fallen.”

She flicked the ashes from her smoke onto his corpse with a scoff, it was time for new change in Talon’s leadership.  And time for her to discover the truth behind the experiments Talon had run on her, to learn just how much damage had been done.

At that exact moment, Mercy turned around to see Sombra and Reaper standing in the doorway of the infirmary. Both of them lowered their weapons when their eyes fell to the corpse of Icarus on the floor, to the blood splattered across the walls and ceiling.

“ _Shit_...what have you done?”

Sombra stepped forward as Mercy lowered her cigarette from pale lips. Flicking the ashes onto the corpse when Sombra came over and stopped at Mercy’s side, metal fingers found their way onto her cheek. Their eyes met and the doctor smirked.

“I was just cleaning up the mess. Talon needed a change in leadership so let them all know...”

“Let them know _what?_ ”

“That Icarus is dead, and that _I_ am in charge now.”

Without another word Mercy walked from the infirmary, leaving Sombra and Reaper to stare at Icarus. The man who dared to fly a bit too high on his own creation, and this?

This was his fall.

“You cannot be serious. Her? _In control of Talon_?” Reaper snarled out, twisting back around to glare at Sombra.

Sombra merely shrugged, her gun vanishing into thin air as she turned to stare back at him.

“He was warned and didn’t listen, Gabe. I just...fuck, I didn’t think she would do this...”

Clawed fingers found their way around her throat then, tightening painfully. She found herself staring into the empty void where Reaper’s face should have been visible, but his heavy breath danced across her cheek.

“What have _you_ done, Sombra?”

Sombra jerked her head back, pulling herself out of his grasp. With a scoff she adjusted the collar of her jacket, retorting, “What any half decent person would have done, I’m trying to help her.”

“ _Don’t._ She deserves this fate, a thousand times over. You and I bot-”

“No, you and _you alone_ believe that. Angela Ziegler is still in there somewhere, much like the real Gabriel Reyes is stuck somewhere in your stubborn head.”

She walked up to him, staring over his shoulder at the infirmary door as she spoke, “I know you were helping me when Amélie was in her shoes, so if you want to help again...follow me right now. If not, then that is your choice.”

He turned his head to watch her leave, scowling under the darkness of his hood. Follow and save a life, don't follow and let her suffer. To anyone else, the choice was an obvious one.

_Yet he did not follow._

* * *

In the darkness of Icarus’ office, left alone with her thoughts later that night. Mercy finally slipped into a deep sleep or what could be loosely compared to one, letting herself melt back in the large desk chair and carried off into her mind. Into a place that was all her own.

Mercy saw her first, a woman in white illuminated in the darkness by shattered wings of gold. Their eyes met, violet on sapphire, and there was a moment of instant recognition shared between them.

_“W-who are you?”_

She stopped then, unsure of how to answer the question presented to her. But somehow, she knew the woman in front of her and it was tugging at her brain. An answer was just _right there_ , yet she could not call it forth.

_Familiar…_

_Dressed in white…_

_Wait._

“It would appear that...I am you, darling. In a sense.”

 _Take a deep breath_.

“Two sides of the same coin or something, you know? Your name is Angela, is it not?”

“It is.”

Mercy nodded in understanding. Icarus had spoken that very same name before he met his end and now this just confirmed it. They truly were one and the same, all the pain Angela had gone through was also Mercy’s pain to share. It was like they were Light and Dark.

Or perhaps a better suited comparison, _Life and Death._

Carefully she approached, feeling the urge to just be closer to this woman. The urge to only show her kindness, or whatever she could give that was akin to it. But she stopped, picking up on Angela’s sudden caution at her movements.

“You have nothing to fear from me, you are safe.”

Lifting her hands in a peaceful motion, Mercy continued forward when she noticed the tension slowly fade from her shoulders.

“Does that mean you are me? I mean, who I am after what... _they_ did?”

“I…am not sure.”

Suddenly they were standing mere inches apart, purple lights from her metal arm and own wings mixed with the gold in a dazzling mixture. Mercy’s metal hand extended out towards Angela, urging her to take it. Hesitantly, steel met flesh and Angela shuddered at the contact.

“You’re so cold…”

A hollow laugh fell from Mercy’s lips and she gently squeezed the pale, human flesh wrapped around metal fingers. To see that her arm had once been human was a painful reminder, of what she - no, what _they_ had lost.

“That is what happens when you are rebuilt in another’s image, I’m afraid.”

Angela jumped a little when the metal slowly grew warmer beneath her palm, trembling slightly at the first sense of warmth she had felt in a long time.

“Better?”

“Yes, much better.”

A comfortable silence passed between the two of them, savoring a connection that felt as if it had been severed. It was like a fond memory being brought back into conscious thought.

“I’m so, sorry.”

Mercy’s eyebrow shot up at that, violet met sapphire and immediately she saw the tears welling up in those beautiful eyes. Gently she lifted her metal hand away from their grip to run along Angela’s cheek, wiping away the tear.

“You do not have to apologize, Angela. This was not your fault.”

Her knees gave out under the weight of those words but Mercy was right there next to her, catching Angela in her embrace to keep her from falling too hard. Mercy eased them both down to their knees and just listened as broken sobs came from her, cradling her closer and closer.

“Schätzli, I have you. Sh, _shh_ …”

“Wh-why me? I d-dont…”

Mercy shushed her sweetly, pressing her closer before whispering.

“Our fall was not a mere accident or a work of fate and bad luck, we were chosen for the damned. _We were from the start_.”

Metal fingers eased their way through blonde locks, hoping that the pleasant warmth and gentle hum would help to ease her sorrows. Mercy was doing everything within her power to care for the poor woman, but she knew that she was unable to say much that could help ease Angela’s burdens.

The broken sobbing should have hit her heart, it should have gotten her own tears to fall down pale cheeks. But whatever Talon had done, it made her numb to everything except her rage.

_If that was all they would allow her to feel, then she would use it against them._

Metal fingers tightened briefly in golden hair and pale lips pressed a kiss to the side of Angela’s head. Feeling the staggered breath on her neck and the shaking hands on her back, _clinging to her_.

“I will make them all pay for what they have done to us, I _swear._ I will not rest until Talon is in ruins and they all have paid for this.”

The words born of rage did not pass through her mouth hpwever, instead lingering like a pit in her stomach. She could not ruin this angel’s thoughts with the poisoning madness in her own, taint that last pure light with thoughts of the blood Mercy would spill just to keep her safe.

“I promise...I will not let anyone hurt you _ever_ again.”

“P-promise…?”

“On our very life, Angela Ziegler.”

Life and Death had finally met, just like fate had intended it seemed. One, an angel without its halo and the other, a demon with blackened wings and a shattered crown.

 _Oh, how poetic it was_.

A wave of memories washed over Mercy then, of screams swallowed in the darkness and the rattling of chains. Desperate struggling against the whir of machines and the tips of needles pressing painfully into skin, the fight to stay _human_ through it all. Cries left unanswered in the shadows, over and over, the chanting of a single name.

_Amélie._

“She did not come, _she left you to rot._ ”

The lie rolled off of Mercy’s tongue with startling ease and it was believed, Angela shifting to lean her full weight against Mercy. _Relying on her_. Angela whimpered into her shoulder, feeling as strong arms held her even tighter in response.

“It does not matter now, Amélie is not here. But I will be, _always_.”

_One day, you will see why I had to lie._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHITTTTTTT
> 
> And now, a real closing word from my beta reader.  
> theabsentmindedarchitect: "That's some good tasty shit- MHMMMM."


	8. Our Retribution Comes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So I shall make them all pay for what they have done to us. Blood they have spilled. And with blood, they shall dearly pay."
> 
> Overwatch, hopeless at the loss of one of their own. Talon, now reunited with an old agent, is both joyous and afraid of the advantage they now have. And a third, wishing to bring this all to an end. With the shedding of blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: I'm going to update Angel of Death at least once or twice a month if I can!
> 
> me, after not having touched this sadfic for almost 6 months: huh i should probably get on that
> 
> all jokes aside I apologize for the wait everyone!! real life shenanigans did ensue.  
> PLEASE DO ENJOY THE SAD SHIT THOUGH

_“Always was a rather foolish promise, wasn’t it?”_

_Amélie…_

_“You did this to her!”_

_Amélie..._

_“She’s gone and I am all that’s left.”_

_Forgive me, Angela. I never meant for this to happ-_

“ _W_ _ake up, Amélie!”_

Consciousness shot through her like a wave, dragging her back to reality. Her eyes snapped open and her body lurching forward into...something. She quickly became all too aware of the blinding lights, burning her weary eyes and forcing her to shield them from further harm.

That was just one of the first sensations to return to her conscious mind, next came the throbbing pain in her stomach. She had moved too fast, too soon and the overwhelming sensations made her head spin. With troubled breathing, Amélie tried to swallow the cry of pain that burned in her throat.

_What had happened to her?_

“Amélie…? Can ye hear me?” A voice buzzed in her ears.

Cautiously, she lifted her eyes to look out into the room once again. The light not nearly as blinding this time around, its only ill effect was to cause Amélie to blink rapidly. Once her vision cleared and focused, she found herself in what appeared to be an infirmary and she was hooked up to several machines. It only took her a moment more to figure out from the overwatch logo painted on the wall and the view out of the open window that she was back at Watchpoint Gibraltar.

Finally she registered the man sitting next to her, his face laced with concern as he watched her. Amélie tilted her head slightly, her brain struggling to place a name with the all too familiar face.

“Amélie?”

The voice gave her brain the nudge it needed to wake up fully, snapping back into the present

“ _Jesse ._  W-what happened…?”

His shoulders dropped with his heavy sigh of relief, his hand coming up to rest on her leg. When he spoke up finally, Amélie could hear the exhaustion raw in his voice.

“Ye went to the Talon base alone, tryin’ to save Angela. Hanzo told us everything, darlin’. So we followed and found ye bleedin’ out with a knife buried in yer stomach.”

Memories came rushing back, her tired brain finally catching up and she clasped a shaking hand over her mouth. Her stomach twisted painfully, a bitter bile rising up in her throat. The reality slamming into her harder than she had anticipated, tears burning in her eyes.

She swore she could feel as frigid steel fingers closed around her throat, burning into her skin with a grip that grew tighter and tighter with each passing second. Amélie shuddered and forced herself to breath. _Don’t think about it, don't think about it._

_Don’t you dare think about her, Lacroix._

“Amélie, ye gotta tell me...did ya see Angela? What happened in there?”

_Damn it._

Amélie curled in on herself, not wanting to remember the horrible image of what she saw. Everything about it was _wrong, immoral_ , Angela was never meant to become that _monster_ . Blackened armor, tinted eyes and that _fucking arm._ It was all apart of a fate that was never meant to fall upon her shoulders, it was a darkness she should not have ever met.

“I-I...can’t, Jesse...god I c-cant.”

A hand came up to squeeze her shoulder, but it did nothing to soothe the pain growing in her chest.

“Amélie please, I have to know what they did to her. So that we can save her.”

_Save her?_

“You cannot save her, Angela is gone.” Amélie murmured, her voice cracking under the weight of her own admittance. If she could have curled into a tighter ball, she would have now. Jesse could only stare at her, baffled at the words he had just heard leave her mouth.

“I...can’t believe that. Angela’s tough! She is still there, I know she is!”

Amélie felt a white hot anger replace her despair in an instant, her hands clenching into tight fists on her arms. How could he be so naive? She had to force herself from driving her fist into his face in frustration. He did not _understand._

“Do you not hear me _,_ Jesse!? They did the same thing to her that they did to me, but now they have surely fixed their past mistakes.” Her head shot up from where it had been cradled in her arms, her voice raw from cries she struggled to hold down.

“Amél-”

“No! She has become the exact opposite of what she used to be, Jesse. _She’s a goddamn weapon._ Stop being so naive and realize that ther- _merde!”_

Her hand flew to her stomach, pressing gently against the bandages beneath her shirt. The anger that had boiled up inside her caused the wound in her abdomen to throb, the pain biting back the rage and subduing it - for now. Her lips drew back in a vicious snarl, forcing her gaze away from Jesse as she struggled to gather herself.

“Easy, easy…I understand yer upset, Amélie. But I have hope that we can _save her_ , I won't be givin’ up on Angie just like that. We saved ye, that has got to mean somethin’ to ye.”

Amélie shook her head but said nothing more, Jesse shifted up to wrap an arm around her shoulders and let her lean into him. It was not much, but he was trying his best to comfort her in that moment. His gaze glued to the overwatch logo on the wall as he spoke.

“Ye gotta believe, Amy. When ya lose hope, that’s when they win. We’ll save her.”

Jesse had some much hope in his voice, for a second it almost made Amélie believe.

_Almost._

He had not see the monster that Talon had designed her to be, hadn’t been forced to lay his eyes upon the _demon_ that was crawling around in Angela’s skin. Because whoever that was, it was not her.

_I did this to her, I am to blame. I left her to die._

She didn’t even try to stop the tears that came from her eyes, or the broken sobs which fell from chapped lips. No, she simply leaned further into Jesse and let go of all the grief that had built up inside her chest. Jesse cried with her in that moment. Not broken sobs, or cries of absolute despair. But tears of loss for Angela, tears shed at the sight of Amélie’s inner war with guilt after what had occurred. Those few tears silently slid down his cheeks and into Amélie’s hair.

He wasn’t sure how long they sat there, trying to find comfort in each others company. But it wasn’t until the soft hum of the infirmary door sliding open reached his ears that Jesse’s focus shift from Amélie to the doorway. Standing silently there was Hanzo, his hands hanging idly at his side as he and Jesse locked eyes for a moment.

“Pardon my interruption, Athena informed me that Amélie was awake. I was wondering if I might speak to her alone?”

Jesse looked to the woman in his arms for a moment before nodding, he eased himself away from her. She did not seem to react to the loss of contact, simply letting him part ways and keeping her gaze glued to her lap. He cast a sad smile at Hanzo as he walked up.

“She’s in rough shape, be kind with her.”

Hanzo nodded and Jesse pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“I will be outside if ya need anythin’ at all.”

The doors slid open and shut again, leaving Hanzo alone with Amélie. Her eyes rose from her lap to lock onto the archer after several silent moments, her gaze narrowing despite the tears still welled up inside them.

_"You told them.”_

Hanzo did not react as Amélie shakily rose from the bed with fury quickly replacing the sadness in her eyes. One of her hands cradled the wound in her gut but it did not do anything to lessen just how threatening she appeared. It was a well placed rage, one that he did not blame her for either.

 _“You swore_ to me that you wouldn’t tell them what I had planned, that you would keep my secret.” She accused, jabbing a finger into his chest as she closed the distance between them in a few strides.

“I can explain myself, Lacroix.”

_“Oh, like hell you can, Liar.”_

A frown crossed over his lips and he shook his head, stepping back away from her. Amélie looked about ready to drive her fist into his skull and that was something he really wished to avoid.

“Listen to me, please. I made a promise to Angela, and keeping my promise to you would have meant that I would break my promise to her.”

The mention of Angela’s name seemed to quell the rage in Amélie, her clenched fist immediately relaxed and her eyes softened. Guilt flooded her chest and she turned away from Hanzo, pacing next to the infirmary bed.

“What promise?”

“One that both Jesse and I made to her long before you had ever been rescued. To keep you from ever having to live a nightmare like that again at the hands of Talon’s doctors.”

Amélie stopped in her tracks, her head whipping around towards Hanzo in an instant. Heavy breaths parted her lips, her face a mix of shock and disbelief.

“She...asked you to keep me away from Talon?”

Hanzo nodded. “Essentially, yes. That is why I told the others what you had planned.”

“And _how_ exactly did you all know where to find me? If I am correct, Overwatch never knew where that particular Talon Facility was?”

“You would be, they did not. But when you were cleared for active duty and were added to the team for the mission to the Temple of Anubis, Angela reacted. That rifle you were given? It had a tracker implanted in it so that if Talon ever took you, we would have an idea of where to look.”

Laughter came from Amélie, her hands running back through her hair as she shook her head. That certainly did sound like something Angela would have done, the foolish woman.

“I don’t suppose the good doctor put one of those trackers on herself, hm?”

Hanzo bowed his head, and that was all the answer Amélie needed. _Of course Angela wouldn’t have done that._ She straightened out, pulling herself and her scattered emotions together. Quickly adding, “No matter, we will figure something else out.” There was a bitter edge to her voice, hinting at some deeper emotion still. Some feeling that she did not admit was in her heart, or it was the lingering remnants of her anger towards Hanzo. He was unsure which.

“I do not blame you for disliking me for what I have done Lacroix, but know that she wanted me to make sure that we never let Talon get ahold of you again. _To protect you from that life at all costs_.”

Amélie sighed and her shoulders dropped, she cast a glance back over her shoulder towards Hanzo. Her once brilliant amber eyes seemed dulled now, _heavier._ As if something was weighing down on her, draining the light from her heart.

“No, I am aware of that Hanzo and I applaud you for being so honorable. I just...wish it was a promise you had not kept. For her sake.” She murmured, her voice straining under a weight he could not see.

He recognized the emotion she had buried inside her in an instant then. _Guilt_. Raw and consuming her, something that none would have noticed unless they had felt it as deeply. It was in her words, the way her voice caught on them.

“You must not blame yourself for what happened to Ang-”

Amélie cut him off immediately.

 _“Don’t say her name._ Don’t say whatever it is you are about to say, just...don’t. Please. I need time _.”_ Her voice broke, pleading with him to just _leave it be._

Hanzo bowed, silently he would respect her wishes. This time he would at the very least. With an emotional wound as deep as Amélie’s was and with his familiarity with similar scenarios, he knew it better to let the woman have her time alone to grieve as she saw fit.

But none of them would have long for such things, because time? Well it was the one thing they were running out of, and who knew what would happen when it ran out for good

_Let us hope we never find out._

 

* * *

 

“Computer, run a scan for those who were a part of Project: Caduceus. I need to know who among them is still alive.”

“As you wish.”

Sombra watched closely as the project files were splayed across her screen, along with a list of all those responsible for creating this, new and improved, Mercy. Second by second, the computer ran the scans. Each time declaring another from that list to have met their end, likely in some gruesome and violent fashion.

“Continuing scan...Employee #051198. Doctor A. Ryan. Status: Deceased.”

_Fuck, come on…_

“Employee #239867 Head Scientist A. Isaacs. Status: Deceased.”

_Had Mercy really gotten to all these people so quickly?_

“Employee #743722. Chief Engineer S. Hayden. Status: Alive.”

“Alive? Really?” The disbelief in her voice rang clear, after almost every other name on the list had been marked dead.

“Affirmative. There is only one other survivor. Employee #883741 Lead Chemical Technician M. Weiss.”

_This was perfect!_

Sombra resisted the urge to do a little dance right then and there, but she was ecstatic to hear there were survivors. Mercy on the other hand, would not be as cheerful if she learned about those who lived. Especially when she seemed to be so hell bent on making them all pay for what they had done, not that she really blamed Mercy for that feeling.

“Computer, change the status of those two employees to deceased. For security purposes.”

Suddenly the word “DECEASED” flashed over their names and replaced the former status, it was not a permanent fix but Sombra knew it would give her long enough to track them down. And perhaps even _create_ a permanent fix for the survivors that did not involve them being slaughtered like animals.

“Track their location and send it to my personal device, it is time to get movi-”

The sound of metal on the floor cut her off, Sombra whirled around to see Reaper standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. His mask was nowhere to be seen but whatever face he still had, was cloaked by the hood.

“What scheme do you have planned _now_ , Sombra?” He spat out, uncrossing his arms and walking towards the computer. Seemingly watching the screens instead of her.

Sombra scoffed and retorted, “As if I would tell you that. If I remember correctly, you didn’t care, _Gabe._ ”

He snarled.

“That is because I _don’t_. But knowing how you work, you will fuck it up somehow.”

“So you want in on it?” Sombra questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Whatever you want to call it, fine. Someone has to make sure you don’t _die._ ”

She gestured towards the screen with a smirk, giving a faux bow. The two profiles of the surviving scientists flashed across the screen for Reaper to see, two who had managed to survive the wrath of Mercy.

“Seems like Icarus’ little weapon isn’t as good at killing as he believed. But that is good news for us.”

Sombra pointed at the two profiles and continued, “The plan is to find these two and get their help in developing...well, I’m not sure _what_ exactly. But surely they can help us find a solution to the Mercy problem. Maybe even call in help from Overwatch.”

Reaper growled in annoyance, earning him a glare from Sombra.

“What? You have a better plan in that head of yours?”

“ _No I don’t_ and that’s why I’m annoyed. What makes you think Overwatch would ever help us? They would rather lock us both up.”

Sombra smirked.

“But they _wouldn’t_ Gabe. Not when you and I are their only way of getting back Doctor Z.”

“... _When do we start then?”_

Sombra scratched her chin for a moment, watching the screen. She had to play this out just right so that both her and Reaper could leave the base without drawing attention from Mercy. Which if they failed at, would subsequently ruin the entire plan and get the two scientists murdered.

_And maybe even her and Reaper..._

“We wait, at least for awhile longer. We don’t want to lose our only chances of helping Mercy. But we should contact Overwatch as soon as we can.”

Reaper said nothing more, but Sombra could feel the anger emanating off of him and she merely rolled her eyes. Of course Gabe was going to bring his old history with the peacekeeping organization into this, and that was going help absolutely no one here.

Suddenly the AI cut into the tense silence that had built between them, “A Talon Agent has entered the base, detecting mass energy signature. Scanning… Designation: Doomfist.”

Sombra and Reaper shot a glance at each other at the mention of one of Talon’s leaders. This could be a snag in their plans, or it could mean the downfall of the entire scheme. The uncertainty gripped Sombra with a twinge of fear and panic.

This was it...

_Doomfist had come home._

 

* * *

 

Mercy stood before the desk, in the very same office that had once belonged to Icarus. Her metal fingers tapped idly against the solid oak as she stared down at the object which had so fiercely held her attention for several hours.

_The Caduceus Staff._

Although it lay shattered now, having been snapped in two during the last moments of a free Angela Ziegler. But still no less impressive. With the power to heal and mend all wounds, to empower the fighting power of whoever was touched by its beam.

“We truly have built something magnificent haven’t we? It’s such a shame the staff is broken. But no matter, I have another use for it now.”

She lifted her metal arm away from the table and flicked a small button between two of the armor plates. A low hiss resonated from within before the wrist split open, revealing a small slot which something could fit down into.

“I will put your technology to better use, Doctor.”

From the table, she picked up the top half of the staff and from simple memory alone, she dismantled its inner workings. From the center, she pried out a small cylindrical device that still buzzed with energy and it hummed pleasantly in the palm of her hand. Gently she eased the device into the slot on her metal arm, the armor plates sliding down into place automatically and the limb went dead for a moment. Mercy watched as slowly, the purple lights within flickering back to life.

_“Calibrating new technology...implementing into system code.”_

With a sharp jolt, her arm shot back to life and with full range of motion again. The armored plates shifting with a soft buzz, steel fingers flexed under her command with the same smooth precision as before.

_Oh this was going to be good._

Mercy was about to begin the testing phase for the new addition when the doors to her office clicked open and a deep voice interrupted her mid process.

"Angela Ziegler, I see you have made yourself comfortable in the chairman’s office."

She did not turn to face the newcomer but it wasn't necessary, she could tell who it was simply from the energy coming from them. Raw and buzzing, it was an energy far greater than her own.

"Akande. I was wondering when you would come running back here."

A soft chuckle came from her.

"Come to remind me that I am not really the leader of Talon? Or to avenge your dear Icarus?"

"Neither actually."

_Oh?_

_Now he certainly had her attention._

Mercy did turn then at his words, casting a curious glance his way. Akande rolled his shoulders, something that looked so easy for him despite the legendary weapon Doomfist on his arm. He approached without the slightest hint of hesitation in his movements, something Mercy was not accustomed to here.

_Not with everyone so afraid of her._

"Icarus was a weak man in a powerful position. You did Talon a favor by eliminating him and the other scientists."

"What makes you think I was trying to _help_ Talon?"

Akande hummed quietly to himself for a moment, a slight smirk crawling up onto his face.

"You weren't, you were killing them for their transgressions against the...former Doctor Angela Ziegler. If I am correct in assuming?”

Mercy turned her gaze away, not out of shame but as if she was shielding the fragile light which remained of Angela. Protecting that last dying flame of innocence from the truth of her own actions.

"But they deserved whatever fate you chose for them. Icarus and his team were obsessed with recreating their work with widowmaker and on a fresh, untouched individual. The council of leaders disapproved of the program after the first failed attempt."

"Icarus however, seems unable to take no for an answer. So..."

There was a pause, _where was this going?_

"I am sorry for what has happened to you, against your will."

Violet eyes flared up, turning to glare daggers into Akande. _Sorry?_ Sorry was a useless word now. It would not change what had been done, sorry would not heal the wounds that Angela had to suffer. Would not end the suffering of an innocent woman.

No, it would change _nothing_.

Her voice darkened, growing thick and rough, “You’re _sorry?”_

Akande tilted his head, a smile still plastered on his lips. Mercy had to restrain herself then, otherwise she would have driven her fist right into his face. Which likely would have ended painfully, but not for him.

“Do you not see the benefits of this? You are _stronger_ than before. Despite the suffering I do not doubt you faced, you remain. Here and alive, although changed drastically.”

Mercy clenched her teeth and forced herself to stare at the floor. _Hold your tongue, do not dare say a word to him_. The silence was nearly deafening, until finally he seemed to continue on without much worry.

“Regardless of whether or not you see it, I have a use for the new and improved Doctor Ziegler.”

_Have a use…_

Is that truly all anyone saw of her? A weapon to be used for their own nefarious purposes? She would kill him right here and now for suggesting such a thing, well she would if she didn’t know for a fact that he would overpower her within an instant. Death was not something she was willing to risk, _so she would play along_ _w_ _ith this little plan of his for_ _now._

“- Will you stand with me and Talon? Help us bring an end to Overwatch and plunge this world into a new war?”

She stood up straight, finally staring the man in the eye. Seemingly composed and unafraid now, ready to fight at his command. But he would find that this Angel of Death had a cost.

“Yes, but first...you help me find the remaining personnel responsible for my creation so I can have my revenge. Are we clear?”

He extended his human hand to her, a proud grin still beaming on his face. “Then we have a deal, Doctor.”

 _“You should never make a deal with the devil, you fool._ ” Mercy mused to herself as they shook hands, signifying a bargain that would be held up on both ends. No matter the cost.

“I think this is the start of a... _beneficial_ partnership.”

Beneficial wasn't the exact word Mercy would have chosen to use in that moment, but she imagined that the man wielding the doomfist was not the kind of person who appreciated being corrected. So she kept her mouth shut and simply offered up a small smirk in return.

For now at least.

Immediately after their handshake ended, Akande began speaking again. “I imagine Overwatch will be your next target once you finish off the remaining scientists, correct?”

“Yes, indeed it is. I have a score to settle with one of your former agents, and I will not stop until she lies dead at my feet in a pool of her own blo-”

_No, no, no…_

The ghost of Angela’s faint voice cried out in her ears, cutting Mercy off. Her head began to swim, vision blurring in and out of focus. She stumbled into her desk and gripped the solid oak, trying to keep her shaking knees from failing on her. Concern flashed across Akande's usually hard face, watching her suddenly go weak before him.

“Doctor? Are you feeling ill?”

A sickened laugh fell from her throat and she glanced at him. Foreign sensations twisted through her body, a sharp pain echoed behind her eyes. Her whole body shuddering as she forced the words out, “I will be f-fine..b-but I must ask that you...leave me for awhile. It seems someone does not want to stay dormant.”

He watched her for a moment with a raised eyebrow. But if Akande was about to argue with her order, he restrained himself. Instead choosing to turn away from her and start towards the door of her office. She watched him leave silently before reaching her human hand up to wipe at her cheeks, pulling it back to find her skin damp.

_She was shedding tears, but they were not her own._

"Angela..."

Carefully, Mercy eased herself back down into her chair. Sinking back into the leather and allowing it to support her weak body. Her eyes drift shut, easing breaths in and out to level her mind. It did not take long before she slipped into a deep sleep of sorts, one where she disconnected from her reality to find safety in her mind.

And when she was met with a blackened void, without a light in sight to guide her way. She called out into the shadows without hesitation or fear in her voice. Her metal arm extended out, ready to accept whatever would emerge at her call.

_“I am here, my Angel.”_

It was only a moment later that Angela was revealed to her, as if the darkness had cloaked her. Mercy watched the woman silently for a moment, who lay crumpled on the ground. As if the darkness she was forced to live in had finally defeated her, struck her down and extinguished the last flickers of light from her soul.

Violet eyes shot open as Mercy rushed forward, gathering Angela into her arms and bringing her as close as she could. As if she was trying to keep her safe from the darkness that lingered all around them, and even in Mercy’s own chest.

“ _T_ _alk to me."_

Angela clung to Mercy, shaking as she struggled to force herself even closer. Her voice hoarse as she spoke, “I-I...remember, god I remember w-what they did…”

She whimpered.

“I can feel t-them...p-please make it...s-stop.”

Steel fingers curled their way around Angela’s hand as her free hand cradled the doctor’s frail form. Idly, Mercy traced patterns into the soft skin, trying whatever she could to guide that wandering mind away from such dark thoughts.

“You are safe here with me, Schätzli. I can protect you, I can make sure you never feel the sting of betrayal again. I am with you.”

Angela wrapped her arms around her stomach and curled further into the safety of those arms, tucking her legs under one of Mercy’s. Comfortably she rested between them, her side pressed into Mercy’s blackened chestplate.

“I miss Overwatch…I shouldn’t but, god I do…”

“No, you shouldn’t, not after what they did to you. Leaving you to die like that. Think of all the pain that could have been avoided if they had just... _fought for you."_

Shifting their positions, Mercy pulled Angela further into her embrace and brought her metal hand up the doctor’s jaw. Steel met flesh, pulling a shiver from Angela as Mercy pressed pale lips to the side of her head.

All this kindness and affection she was showing, it was all in an attempt to remind Angela that this was as real as it could get despite it all being within their shared mind. Her metal fingers warmed up against Angela’s skin, and a pleasant hum came from her.

“Do you like that?”

Angela nodded, bringing a hand up to rest atop the black metal. Soaking in the minuscule amount of warmth it offered to her, but she wasn’t complaining. It was the most warmth she had felt in god knows how long. 

“I miss Winston, and Tracer...I even miss Genji...and-”

“You miss Amélie too, don’t you?”

There was a heavy sigh.

“I do…”

Mercy tilted Angela’s head up so that their eyes met, violet flickered upon meeting that faded sapphire. A need to protect and comfort her flooded through Mercy, seeing how drained the woman looked. _She needed to protect Angela._

“Amélie was supposed to be your closest friend, you gave up everything for her to come back...and how did she repay you?”

"N-no..."

Violet eyes narrowed and Mercy repeated, "How did she repay you?"

Angela’s eyes went wide after a few seconds, sadness flooding into them followed by a stream of tears that gathered in the corner of her eyes. It was her realization, the truth finally hitting her. And Mercy felt it was for the best, despite the pain it surely placed inside her heart.

“She...left me, w-when I needed her most…”

Sobs racked through Angela’s form and she buried her face into Mercy’s neck, trying to cling to the one person she could count on. Hushed whispers of reassurance were whispered into her ears, each followed by an icy breath painting its way across Angela’s skin.

“P-promise me...y-you’ll never l-leave me. That...y-you won't wa-walk...away from m-me...not like Am-”

A steel finger was pressed to chapped lips to silence her, Mercy murmured sweetly, “Shh, do not say such things. I am not like her, my angel. I will come back to you.”

Angela’s sobs began to quiet down, the shaking in her shoulders fading away as she sat curled up against Mercy. Metal arm cradled protectively around her head, exhaustion creeping into her limbs with the combination of warmth and comfort. It didn’t take long for Mercy to notice either, she watched as Angela drifted further and further into the sweet embrace of sleep. Her voice was low as she whispered one final thing into the doctor’s ear.

“Your light is fading, its shine is a shell of what it once was. But you won’t be forgotten, for I will keep your faint glow alive.”

Mercy shut her eyes, feeling her own exhaustion seeping in. But still she continued, “The light and the darkness. One cannot exist without the other. You cannot exist without me, and I cannot exist without you.”

_So I shall make them all pay for what they have done to us._

_Blood they have spilled._

_And with blood, they shall dearly pay._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The little bit that Mercy is saying at the end is from a piece a dear friend wrote for me, which you can find here >> http://crystallisedrain.tumblr.com/post/165601359248/deep-inside-i-can-still-feel-your-presence-in


	9. Come Hellfire and Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOOOOOOOOO this chapter turned out to be double the usual 4-5k word chapters I write for y'all because I had talon mercy shenanigans that I wanted to write : ) 
> 
> Suffer with meeee

If there was one thing that Sombra hated, _it was waiting._ She paced, back and forth. In the exact same pattern, following in the exact same footsteps, in the exact same places on the floor. Just as she had been doing for the past 3 hours already, sharp nails tapped against her chin. It was taking too long, it wasn’t good news - not when so much rode on this plan.

It had been almost a week of them making the arrangements to get into contact with the scientists responsible for Angela’s transformation, something that should have only taken them a day or two dragged out painfully. They had expected a response days ago yet everything had been radio silent and meanwhile, Mercy spent each of their wasted seconds earning Akande’s trust and solidifying her position at Talon.

_This would only make things more difficult._

Sombra wrung her hands together nervously, shaking her head as her pacing became even quicker than before. This wait was gut wrenching, excruciating. God, it was downright _torture_ at this point…

Those were just a few of the _nicer_ words she could be using to describe how she felt in this current moment. Every other word running through her head was just colorful and would be terrible to say in front of children, maybe even some adults too. She felt terrible, she felt _scared_.

And if there was another thing Sombra hated most, _it was being scared._

“Their call...they are _days_ _late_ , Gabe...what if she got them? What if she’s found out what we have been planning to do??” Sombra started, running her hands back across her head. Trying and failing to simply relax, to not worry so much about the fates of the only scientists left alive who would be able to help save Angela Ziegler.

Reaper watched her frantic pace, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head. A part of him wanted to smack her upside the head and tell her to get her shit together, to just _breathe_. Another part of him, a small part but still there nonetheless wanted to bring her into a hug and just try to help her.

_She’s scared, Gabriel…_

It was at that moment, while he was deciding on whether or not he would actually comfort the distressed woman that Sombra’s phone began to ring. The hacker jumped, scrambling through her jacket pockets and nearly dropping the small device in the process.

Pressing the call button quickly, a holographic screen appeared in front of Sombra. A thin white line crossing horizontally through it, a man's voice came through and the white line rippled and bent as he spoke.

“We received your message Sombra, I do so apologize for the extended delay in response...I am certain you understand that we had to ensure that our message was encrypted, as well as make sure this was no trap laid out by that _fiend._ ”

She pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, voice wavering, “No, no...it is fine, I get the caution. But that doesn’t matter right now, Hayden. You read my message, so I need to know your answer.”

“Need to know if we can reverse the damage we did to Angela Ziegler? The answer is not a simple one, there are a lot of factors to consider…”

Sombra sneered, “So _make it_ fucking simple.”

There was a distressed sigh from the other end of the line, a soft string of curses coming from somewhere behind Hayden. Muffled chatter could scarcely be made out, and it only seemed to make Sombra more impatient and irritable.

“There were...extensive levels of physical and psychological torture involved in her _corruption_ . Not to mention the chemical and technological advances that were put into her creation. That _alone_ is going to make it harder to return her to the previ-.”

Sombra slammed her fist against the desk, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Why did they have to make _excuses!?_ Rage burned raw in her throat as she shouted, “I don’t care about the science behind it! I just want to know if you can fucking _fix her!”_

“We can try. I designed many of the systems used to consistently pump her full of the drugs that were meant to keep her docile and subservient, Ms. Weiss here - _she created those drugs_.”

The pride in his voice disgusted her and she didn’t hide that, “You sound _proud_ of the work you did.”

“A man’s work _is_ his pride, Sombra. She may have turned into a murderer, but this was intended. Icarus wanted a weapon, what he got was one that he could not control. She’s a _masterpiece_ in every way, _my magnum opus_.”

 _“You sick fuck._ She was a human being with a life of her own, she’s not some _object_ to be seen as your creation. _”_ Sombra spat, her eyes narrowing at the screen. Like she hoped he could feel her glare through the phone call.

“We shall agree to disagree there, my friend… but why feel sentimental about it Sombra? Need I remind you that _you_ developed the spinal implant which is constantly administering those drugs to her. So, you are as much to blame for her downfall as we are.”

Sombra felt like she had been punched in the gut, feeling the pit of her stomach give way to anxiety. Any food she had eaten threatened to be thrown right back up, _at least she was trying to help._ To correct what she had done while they cowered behind their screens _._ She had no other choice but to design it, _no other choice._

Sombra shook her head and tried to quell the feelings boiling up in her body, a rage which threatened to burst out of her chest.

 _“I don’t care_. You and Weiss are lucky we are trying to keep you both alive, I could just as easily let that monster you created know where you both are.”

There was a gasp from the other end and Hayden retorted unamused, “Sombra, _please_ , you and I both know you won’t do that.”

“Oh really? How about I call Doctor Ziegler now then? I’m sure she would just _love_ to chat with you both. Reaper, hand me your communicator.” Sombra taunted, catching the small device that he tossed to her.

She pressed a random button and as a beep rang out, Hayden immediately stammered out, “Okay! _Okay!!_ You have made your point, Sombra! _Please_ , don’t call her...I want to live to see my family.”

“And you _will_ , so long as you cooperate. We need to develop a cure, a solution - god _anything_ so long as it succeeds in pulling her back.”

There was silence from the other end of the line, Hayden sighed and spoke, “We will help, but you have to promise to keep us alive. We have lives and we want to get back to them, in one piece.”

“We both know that asking for promises in a situation like this is a bit naive, Mercy could just as easily kill me as she could you two. But I can guarantee to do everything in my power to keep you both alive and in one piece.”

More idle chatter took place in the background, Sombra looked to Reaper and he nodded. It was silent support for her, knowing that no matter how this went - they would find a way to see it through.

“Do we have ourselves a deal, Hayden?”

“I suppose a guarantee will have to do, fine you have your deal. We will begin work immediately.”

Sombra had to resist the urge to do a little dance at that news, this was it! The start of a long and gruelling plan to bring back Angela. She instead chose to pull herself together and reply, “We will be there in a couple of hours then, but first, I have to call in some backup. So you two just hang tight.”

Hayden laughed, “It is not like we have anywhere elsewhere to go, Sombra.”

With that, the call disconnected and Sombra rushed to Reaper. Offering up her hand for a high five which much to her surprise, he returned - unenthusiastic of course, but it still counted.

“We’re gonna do it, Gabe, we’re gonna be able to help her. Just gotta keep focused.”

Reaper rolled his shoulders and grumbled, “But it doesn’t get any easier. You and I have to get off base now, then you have to _make the call.”_

Sombra gulped.

 _The call._ A title given to the one defining moment in their whole plan, where Sombra would pass the line from suspicious member to down right traitor in Talon’s eyes. She had to call the one person who she believed she even had a chance of making her case to.

But Gabe was right, _first_ , they had to get out of here.

Hurriedly, Sombra shut down her systems and pulled a small data disk from her computer before handing it over to Reaper. He stared at it silently, almost confused as to what she wanted him to do with the thing. Rolling her eyes, she muttered, “I can’t risk being found with both disks. You take it to the hangar and get us a ship out of here, I’ll be there in a minute okay?”

He nodded and started towards the door. Sombra slipped another disk into place and pulled up her keyboard, typing furiously as she worked to erase all their digital footprints from the system. She knew Talon did not have anyone as skilled as her on their roster but it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out they had stolen files and _lots of them_.

The files for a very elaborate project, aptly named _Caduceus._

“Sombra? Be quick, and whatever you do - _don’t_ let Mercy catch you, she will figure out what is going on a lot sooner.”

She nodded back at him and with that, Reaper faded from the doorway. Leaving Sombra to continue her clean up. Something which took her longer than anticipated due to the amount of times she had to keep looking back over her shoulder, hard to talk yourself out of trouble when you have been caught red handed stealing from your employer.

“Ah, perfect!! Time to get out of here.”

Shutting down her keyboard and retrieving the second disk, Sombra spun and peeked out into the hallway. It was dead quiet at this hour and most everyone would be asleep, so with any amount of luck that would mean Mercy was one of them. Carefully she slid the disk into her coat and shuffled down the hall, trying to keep herself out of sight as much as she possibly could.

It was a slow, agonizing process. She could not be caught, not with terabytes of project data sitting inside the small storage device. Video files, blueprints - the whole works. It was everything those scientists would need to bring back Angela Ziegler and then some - _and it was incredibly valuable._

She just had to get off base without Mercy seeing her, another right turn and then a few more metres before she would be right inside the hangar. It was so close, moments away and she could breathe a sigh of rel-

_Oh fuck._

Mercy came sauntering around the corner then, followed by two of her newly enhanced soldiers. Sombra froze in her tracks, feeling the breath seize in her lungs as the group walked right for her. Her eyes training on the heavy assault rifles that both soldiers carried, this was not what she wanted _at all_. But Mercy only smiled as she stopped in front of Sombra, so maybe she was clueless.

“Sombra! I was wondering where you had disappeared to.”

“Oh...y-yeah, I just wanted to make sure everything was in place for Akande’s arrival here.” She stumbled over herself for a moment, but quickly collected herself.

Mercy said nothing, circling the hacker. Sombra shivered as she felt cold metal fingers against the back of her neck and Mercy purred, “Surely that was not _all_ you were up to?”

Sombra held back the urge to gulp then, knowing it would give her away almost immediately. Her voice unwavering as she quickly added, “Of course not! I checked our security system for you, all the scientists you were hunting? AI told me that you’ve cleared through the list.”

“Oh, _have I really?”_ Those words would have made Sombra immensely nervous if Mercy hadn’t sounded so _surprised_ by the information. She truly had no idea who was left to hunt.

With a quick nod, Sombra fidgeted. Eager to end the conversation and get on her way, but if Mercy even remotely picked up on her urgency to end this talk then there would likely be trouble. She didn’t want that. Not now, god, especially not now.

“I’m not keeping you from something, am I?”

_Shit, kinda like that..._

“Ah, no, no...Reaper and I were heading out on a small errand for Akande. He wanted us to gather up the other heads of Talon.” Sombra scrambled to correct her error and pass off a smooth lie all at once.

Mercy frowned for a moment but slowly nodded. Uncrossing her arms and stating as she shuffled past Sombra, “Well I shall not keep you longer, I will see you later then I hope?”

Sombra flashed a grin back at the doctor, _it worked_. “When have you ever known me not to come back?”

The hacker disappeared from view around the corner, Mercy turned back to stare after Sombra. Violet her eyes narrowed and her lips curled up in a snarl, snapping out, “I want her quarters searched floor to ceiling _now_ , and get me Akande...she’s up to something, I want to know what.”

Her soldiers saluted and immediately took off to carry out her command. Mercy scoffed and kept walking, for someone so skilled in all sorts of deceitful activities - Sombra was not good at hiding her own nervous energy. It poured off of her, and Mercy had all too quickly picked up on it.

“Won’t be talking your way out of this one, Sombra. I’ll find your secrets, _then I will bury you in them_.”

Sombra meanwhile, basically threw herself on the transport ship Reaper had procured for them. Panting as she grabbed onto the man and stammered, “Get us out of here now!”

_“What did you do?”_

“She knows I lied about something, but she fell for the scientist ploy. Our plans are still safe, just _get us out of here.”_

Reaper growled and pounded on the side of the ship, alerting the pilot that it was time for them to get a move on. The engines roared to life and a second later, they were up off of the landing platform and heading out the bay doors towards freedom.

“You better hope you didn’t just make things more difficult for us, otherwise those scientists are as good as _dead._ ”

Sombra sighed and collapsed into one of the seats, slowly running a hand down her face. She was tired of letting down everyone when she only wanted to _help_ , it was painful to suffer. But this was something that she was determined to see finished, no matter the cost.

“She didn’t call me out, but she knows I lied about where I was going. Otherwise, I am like ninety percent sure that she fell for all the information I dumped on her.”

Reaper grunted, sitting down next to her. “I’m just saying, you had bett-.”

“ _Just stop._ I get it, I fucked that up back there but just...stop pointing it out. We will deal with her when or if she becomes a problem.”

A gruff laugh came from Reaper before he tossed his communicator towards her, “You know who you have to call, and there is no guarantee they will want listen. Especially now.”

Sombra just barely managed to catch the device he had thrown, holding it tightly in her hands as she stared over at him.

“Perhaps, But if this plan saves Angela? I am certain they will move heaven and earth to get it done, you will see.”

Typing the number into the device, Sombra brought it up to her ear and muttered as it began to ring, “Time to call, Lacroix.”

* * *

Amélie leaned back against the headboard, head tilted up to stare at the ceiling above her. Just as she had been doing for the past 6 hours, grief had taken its place. She couldn’t speak, couldn't _breathe,_ not without the sting of held back tears burning behind her eyes.

Forcing them shut, Amélie downed what remained in her shot glass and growled. There was a darkness burrowing itself in her chest, into her _heart_. Sinking its claws into her, threatening to tear her apart. But no, She had to maintain a routine, lest she lose herself completely.

Step one - drink, it was always to drink. That had never changed for her. Each day was chased with a series of hard drinks, different types but always in the same glass and with one ice cube. Never wine or draught, they weren’t strong enough for her anymore. They wouldn’t numb her as quickly as others could, she didn’t want to feel.

Step two was to run - from what exactly, Amélie wasn’t able to say. All she knew was that she just had to run. Something was chasing her and it wanted to hurt her, she _had_ to run. Amélie didn’t realize that it was her grief from which she ran, her mind too numb and slow to even grasp that she had not cried about the loss of Angela in days.

Step three, barely sleep. It was necessary, for all sleep brought to her was pain and despair. Amélie tried not to dream, it either brought her false hope or horrid, paralyzing nightmares. Those of a purple light flashing in darkness, of metal dragging against metal with a sound so awful it made her skull ache. Cold so deep and frigid that Amélie feared she might never feel warmth again even when she woke up from such terrors.

It was important to have a routine, otherwise Amélie felt she would go crazy. One tiny thing off pace and the whole balance would be upset in seconds, Amélie didn’t want that. Routine had kept her far enough ahead of despair and grief for the past week, it kept her from facing the reality of what she had seen.

_It was important to have this routine, yes, yes. Very important, you have the control here - don’t lose anymore control, Amélie. Keep your routine._

That mantra played over and over in her head, the glass in her hand trembled as she did. Amélie swung her legs over the side of the bed, reaching blindly for the bedside table. Struggling to refill her emptied glass from the bottle of dark alcohol she kept by the bed without nearly spilling it across the table and floor. With a staggered breath, she managed and half tossed the bottle back onto the table. Jumping as it hit the surface with a loud bang, once more nearly making her drop her drink.

Remember to breathe, then drink because its the only thing keeping you numb. Also run fast, run far. Don’t let those demons catch you because if they catch you, they _own_ you. Lastly whatever you do, _don’t sleep..._ that was the order, that’s the order it _had to be done in_.

“Amélie…” A voice spoke up from somewhere behind her.

But the woman didn’t register it, repeating her mantra as she took another drink and practically vibrating as she stood there. Not even the heavy footfalls coming towards her would pull her out of her haze, she _had to keep the routine._

The bed dipped down next to where she sat. Cold steel grazed her shoulder and fear struck through her body in an instant, paralyzing here. It was here, _she was here._ That demon which had taken Angela’s place was actually here, _in her room_ . Her routine was supposed to stop this, she had been running, she had been safe. _Why, why was this happening?_

Any notion of her routine keeping her together fell from her mind just as her glass did when it fell from her grasp, Amélie didn’t realize how badly she was shaking until she was forced around to face the newcomer. But instead of violet eyes and blackened steel to greet her, she was met with concern and _warmth_.

 _“Jesse…_ I thought, you...h-her. _”_ She just barely managed to choke out.

Amélie collapsed forward into a tight hug from the man, shaking and sobbing as everything she had struggled to keep numbed poured out. Like a dam bursting and Jesse was there to see it happen, just hugging Amélie as she finally showed some emotion.

“I got ye darlin’, its okay…” He murmured, listening as her sobs just grew more ragged and desperate. She had kept this bottled up inside her for so long, and all it had taken was a touch to make her fall apart.

“I l-left her...t-there. J-jesse...i-i did this t-to her.” Amélie managed to choke out through her tears.

“No, ye didn’t Amélie. Those bastards at Talon did this. There was nothin’ more any of us coulda done, I know fer a fact that Angie wouldn't blame ya.”

Amélie shook her head and clung tighter to him, “Y-you didn’t see h-her...i ha-hate what th-they h-have turned her into.”

“Then change it, Amélie.” Jesse shot back, his voice firmer than before. It was enough to make her freeze, focusing on him and not her consuming grief. Amélie had half expected sweet, honeyed words of reassurance - not _determination._

“What…?”

Jesse pulled back from the hug and took her face in his hands, sighing heavy. His eyes softened as he wiped at her tears, more determined to push at her now that he had her full attention.

“I have been real patient with ye, Amy. But this has gotta stop. Sittin’ in here, drinkin’ away all yer grief and feelin’ sorry for yerself.”

Amélie’s brow furrowed and her eyes slammed shut, she hated that. He had a point and she _hated it_ . It would be just plain childish to disregard all he was saying, because it was making _sense_. It was her, her own thoughts - those were the things throwing her off. But Jesse wasn’t stopping there, he had to push further.

“I don’t know what ya saw back there, or what they have done to Angie but I sure as shit know that becomin’ an alcoholic ain’t gonna fix a damn thing. Ye need to pull yerself together, we need ya.”

He paused briefly, inhaling, _“Angela needs ya, Amélie._ How are ya going to be able to find peace if ya don’t even try to save her. _”_

Silently she sat there and stared at Jesse, a mix of emotions spinning around in her chest. Grief was ever present, but there was something new. A fire of determination although small was still there, Amélie could feel it burning with such an intensity that her body shuddered.

As if on cue, her phone began to ring in her pocket and made her jump. Jesse released her and rose from the bed, nodding as a silent encouragement for her to _answer the phone._ Amélie fished the small device from her pocket and brought it up to her face to check it.

 _An unknown number._ Strange, but whoever was calling was adamant that she answered them because as the ringing ended, it just as quickly started up once more. That same ‘unknown number’ title flashing across the screen.

So reluctantly, Amélie answered.

“Who is this?”

“Lacroix, you know who it is.”

Amélie clenched her teeth, hissing at the instant recognition of the voice, _“Sombra.”_

Laughter rang sharply in her ear, “That’s it, chica! Good to hear you’re still kicking aroun-”

“You have thirty seconds to explain why you are calling me before I _hang up.”_

Sombra tutted, “Now, now Lacroix...I’m not the enemy here. I have good news for you and your little band of misfits.”

 _“Spit it out._ You are lucky I haven’t immediately hung up on you _.”_ Amélie snarled.

“Chill, _amor_. I’m calling because we are in need of some serious Overwatch support here…”

Anger rushed through Amélie and she spat back, “Why would I ever fucking consider giving you Overwatch support? _You_ were there when Talon took Angela, _you_ helped them!”

Sombra sighed, “I did what I had to do to maintain my cover then, I didn’t know what they were going to do with her Amélie…”

“Yet when you _did_ find out, did you even attempt to stop them!?”

A noise came from the other end of the line, like Sombra had started to speak and then Amélie’s words made her choke. Because the hacker knew that she wasn’t wrong, Sombra had every chance to intervene and yet failed to do so. But much to her surprise, Amélie heard the sadness grow in Sombra’s tone.

“I’m trying to make that right, chica...you have to believe me, I never meant for that to happen to her. _I’m sorry.”_

_“How?”_

“We found two of the Talon scientists that were leads in that project, who Angela _hasn’t_ downright slaughtered yet. They are coming up with solutions to help her, but they want protection…”

Amélie stopped in her tracks and looked at Jesse who had been standing close enough to hear what Sombra was saying, they look that passed between them was _hopeful._ This could be there only chance to save Angela, and to free her from whatever Talon had done to her.

Old grievances aside, this was a chance they had to take.

“How do I know you’re not lying to me, Sombra?”

The line went quiet for a moment, Sombra’s voice low, “You don’t, all you have is my word...as much as that's worth anymore. There _are_ scientists, and they will help Angela.”

“Do I tell the others?” Jesse whispered.

Covering the phone’s speaker, Amélie shut her eyes. Seeming to mull something over in her mind quickly before she nodded, “Yes and quickly, I will bring more information down when I’m done here.”

Without another word Jesse sprinted from the room and Amélie brought her focus back to the call, Sombra humming impatiently on the other end.

“So you need _our_ help?”

Amélie swore she could almost _feel_ the dramatic eye roll that Sombra had definitely made at that statement, it would have been nerve wracking had Amélie not expected it. Her grin wide as the hacker shot back, “Yes, we need Overwatch’s help. We can’t hold off Angela on our own, and if she finds out what we have planned then we’re all as good as dead.”

“I don’t have the authority to make that command. Yet...I will talk with the others. But you’re going to need to give me a location, Sombra.”

Sombra scoffed, “Ilios, you know...Greece? There’s a facility on the outskirts of the city, hidden in the cliffs. It’s been abandoned for years but the scientists thought hiding there would be the best bet. Follow the coast north for about 5 miles, I’ll take care of bringing you in from there. Got it?”

“Then I shall inform the others, and Sombra?”

“Yes, _chica?”_

Amélie sighed, running a hand along her jaw. Sure, she was grateful for Sombra’s assistance but was it really enough to make up for what she had allowed to happen? It was a choice and Amélie knew that holding onto her anger would make nothing easier, so she chose forgiveness.

“I understand why you did what you did, doesn’t mean I accept it _at all_ or approve. But...I get it. Thank you, for at least attempting to make it right.” She murmured.

Sombra hummed, “No need to thank me, it is something I’ve left alone for too long. We are going to make this right. I do hope that even if your Overwatch buddies don’t agree with this that I will at least see _you_ here.”

Amélie paused for a moment, before inhaling sharply. “No way I would let you face this alone, the fault for what happened is partly with myself as well. Like you said, _we_ will make it right.”

“Damn right, I will see you later then...Lacroix.”

The line went dead and Amélie slid her phone back into her pocket, abandoning the glass that still lay on the floor as she walked briskly from her room. Marching through the halls and on her way to the meeting room, where she figured that the others had gathered by now.

She pushed open the large double doors effortlessly to immediately be met with shouting. Back and forth the others argued with each other around the table, some likely all for the chance to save Angela. While she imagined those who did not agree were saying it was nothing more than an elaborate trap laid out by Talon to capture them all, telling them all to admit that Angela was gone and that they had to move on.

Logical of course, Talon was their undisputed enemy. But that knowledge made it no less infuriating.

Amélie’s voice rose from her throat before she could even stop herself, there was a cold fury in her words that she had not known herself to possess. And it startled her to be using it towards those she called both allies _and_ friends. But it was more than enough to pull the attention of everyone else to her

“Angela did not dedicate her life to this organization for you all to abandon her when she has need of you most! Where is your loyalty??”

She stormed up to the table, slamming her hand down flat on the surface. The loud smack had many of the others stepping back almost immediately, Amélie maintained her hardened gaze and ignoring the stinging pain in her palm. Jesse tried to offer her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder but Amélie shrugged him off, her voice dropping dangerously low as she continued.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves, Angela would have dropped everything, _risked everything she could…_ just to save any one of you if you were in her shoes right now. But now that it is her, now that _she_ is the one suffering you would truly let old grievances hold you back?”

Someone dared to speak up but she shot them down even faster.

“If you dare try to defend the opinion that _leaving Angela_ with Talon is at all better than doing whatever we can to save her, you can leave this room now and do not dare to show your face to me _again.”_

No one dared to move, or even dared to think of speaking. Not with the cold rage that seemed to pour off of Amélie, it was tangible in the air around them and god be with the fool who even began to argue next. Talon was dangerous yes, there was every possibility of this being an elaborate trap.

But Amélie knew it was a risk they all _had_ to make.

“She is right.”

Amélie turned her head to stare at Hanzo from where he stood across the table, he smiled at her and just kept on talking, “I too fear that this may be a trap, but...how will we ever forgive ourselves if it was a true opportunity to help Doctor Ziegler and we were all too _scared_ to use it?”

With soft whispers and slow nods from those around the table, they began to agree. Hanzo crossed his arms over his chest and asked, “What else did Sombra say? What exactly must we do?”

“A hidden base, along the coastline near Ilios. Sombra said that is where they would be, and she would take care of bringing us safely to land upon our arrival. She needs our help, to protect scientists who were originally responsible for helping... _torture_ Angela…”

Amélie felt herself choking on the words, but she forced the grief back and continued, “They know of a way to fix her, to bring her back to us. In return for this, we are running the protection detail. I want 6 of us going in, with about 2 dozen or more armed foot soldiers. That should be more than enough to stave off Mercy’s arrival.”

Hanzo nodded in acknowledgement and gestured to the others, “Then we should be hasty and prepare our forces for the trip.”

As the team began to move, Amélie smiled and leaned forward against the table, _“Just hang on Angela, we are going to see this through.”_  


* * *

_“Mercy…”_

The doctor stopped when she heard her name spoken, as clear and vivid in her ears as if someone had stood right next to her and spoken it. She turned her head to look back into shadows. But there was no one waiting for her and a part of her knew that. That whoever had called her name was not next to her, but rather _within_ her.

 _“Angela…”_ She drawled, quickly turning back to make it back to her infirmary. For privacy’s sake.

She pushed open the doors as the ache began to spread through her skull, a sign that Angela was growing ever more impatient and desperate. Mercy would not leave the poor doctor waiting, not ever. Especially not in that... _void._

Collapsing back into the exam chair, Mercy fell into a darkness that she had only grown more accustomed to as time passed. Angela on the other hand, was far less lucky than her. Once she saw that the woman curled in upon herself again, Mercy knew that she had left Angela alone with those memories for too long. Like demons they plagued her, and when Mercy was no longer there to keep them at bay - _they tore her apart._

Mercy reached her metal hand out into the blackness just as she always did and suddenly recoiled as a voice ripped at her mind, searing pain shooting through her entire being. Every nerve, every _fiber_ of herself was alight with pain. Gasping, Mercy stumbled forward and fell to her knees with a vicious sneer curled up upon her lips.

“ _Angela.”_ She murmured, cursing under her breath as another wave of pain shot through her.

Soft music began to ring in her ears and Mercy lifted her head, no longer finding herself surrounded by the void but rather in an infirmary. The pain ebbed away only to be replaced by the painful tug of familiarity, this place - god she knew this place.

“Dance with me, _chérie…_ come on.”

Mercy’s head whirled around at the sound of the voice to find herself face to face with Amélie, the woman seemingly unfazed by her new appearance. Not even in combat gear, they were not enemies here.

 _“What?”_ Mercy managed, absolutely confused.

“You work too hard, you just need to _let go._ Just for a bit...for me?” Amélie spoke, her voice too sweet and too alluring to be ignored.

Mercy found herself moving but not of her own volition, her hands slipping around Amélie’s waist and pulling her close. She wasn’t controlling this or herself, control had been robbed from her in a mere instant and now here she was - _hugging_ the woman she hated more than anything.

“I cannot lead you in dance if you’re hugging me, _chaton…”_

Tighter she clung to Amélie, almost desperately. Tears involuntarily falling from her eyes as a broken sob fell from her lips. _No, no, no,_ this was not Mercy - this was Angela.

“Angela? Are you alright?”

_“Save me.”_

Angela’s control on their shared consciousness went lax suddenly and Mercy snapped back into place with a growl, the memory immediately dispelling from the air around them. Nearly collapsing as she tried to regain her composure, Mercy wiped tears from her eyes and stared down at Angela.

“I told you, she cannot save you, _my angel._ She was the one responsible for _this_.”

Mercy went to collect the broken woman into her arms to comfort her but stopped, there was an incessant tapping on her arm. _Someone was trying to wake her up._ With a heavy sigh, Mercy instead chose to press a kiss to the crown of Angela’s head and whispered, “I will be back, someone is calling for me.”

Metal fingers locked around the throat of the soldier nagging her as she snapped back into reality, she snarled and violently pushed them away, “I’m _awake_ . This had better be good or I _swear.”_

The soldier coughed and sputtered, struggling to pull himself off of the floor. “S-sorry ma’am...but I have n-news…"

_“Spit it out.”_

He rose to his feet and stood at attention, speaking, “We got an alert. One of our old research bases on the Ilios coastline, it’s been decommissioned for almost a decade now. Our systems reading that it just came back online.”

Mercy frowned at the news. “Is that something that happens often?”

“No, only when either we approve the base to be reopened or...someone else has found it.”

Rising up from the exam chair, Mercy rolled her shoulders and stated as she brought up her portable PDA, “Then me and my team will investigate, gather the soldiers of Keres squad. My _personal_ fire squadron. Tell them that I shall meet them in the hangar with my ship, 10 minutes.”

Immediately the soldier saluted her and left her alone. Mercy moved over to the cabinet that proudly displayed her armor, lifting the chest plate from its stand to lock into her suit. The black metal plates shifted and locked into place as Mercy coiled her metal fingers around the grip of her gun, relishing in the weight of it in her hand for a moment.

With her other hand, she situated her earpiece and immediately the small device came to life. A voice coming from the other end as she walked from the infirmary, “Ma’am, we have received your orders. We will be ready in 5.”

 _“Good,_ let's go find out who was foolish enough to enter a decommissioned Talon base.”

* * *

Sombra strolled into the lab where the scientists were working, watching as they browsed through the files that Reaper and her had delivered. They seemed to be picking out which ones would be the most helpful, dragging them off into a separate folder. It was almost inspiring to see that so much was going to be put to use, _now it just needed to get them results._

“Have you two got any sort of theories on what can be done yet?”

Samuel stopped and stared back at her while the other kept sorting through files. The expression on his face hardened, and he snapped, “You cannot rush our work. We’ve barely gone through the files yet! If I had known you were going to be this naggy, I would have taken my chances with Mer-”

The other scientist cut him off, stating without even looking away from the screen, “We need to develop a counteractive drug, something which will negate or even destroy the other drug we have pumping through her. Which of course raises a big problem, due to her spinal implant. We must remove that before we can even think of trying to dose her with anything.”

The sudden outburst from the usually quiet woman took both of them by surprise, but Sombra nodded as a beep came from her communicator, “Makes sense, just be sure you have something to show Overwatch. They are going to want to see that we have something concrete to place their trust in. Oh, and they’re landing here now...so I would make it quick.

With that, Sombra turned and sauntered right back out of the lab. Just in time to see a dropship landing on the center platform, and what few talon soldiers had come along moved to stand behind the hacker as she approached.

“Keep your guns lowered boys, we’re not here to fight with them.” Sombra warned as the bay door opened.

Almost instantly, the laser sights of nearly two dozen firearms grouped on Sombra’s chest and her hands immediately shot up in surrender. They moved forward down the ramp and from between their ranks stepped out Amélie Lacroix. A neutral expression painted across her face before she raised her fist, all of them instantly lowering their guns

“Hold your fire, gentlemen. It’s not the trap we thought it to be. Split into pairs and spread out, keep an eye out.” Amélie barked out as she approached Sombra.

The soldiers off loaded from the ship and Sombra motioned for her men to follow along before she extended her hand out to Amélie, smiling. Together the foot soldiers split off into different directions, moving to cover the various doors and perches throughout the facility. If anyone was going to show up out of the blue, _they surely would see._

“Good to see you convinced them, Lacroix. We are going to need all the help we can get.”

Amélie huffed, slinging her rifle over her shoulder, “Just doing what needs to be done, I would like to speak to these scientists you were telling me of before anything else gets done. Am I understood?”

“Absolutely, chica. They’re just through those doors there, your team can set up here. We should be absolutely prepared for anything.”

Following Sombra, Amélie tread carefully across the stone floor. Noticing Reaper shifting in the shadows out of the corner of her eye, knowing better than to call out to the man. Especially with so many of his previous friends and allies near, it was simply for the best.

“Before we get in there and I get bombarded with scientific jargon...what did they have in mind to save Angela - the more simplified version if you please?”

Sombra stopped then and looked at Amélie. “They are going to look into a drug that counteracts the effects of the one keeping her memories suppressed. But they had run into a bit of a problem with that idea…”

Yet as soon as Amélie opened her mouth to reply, a voice came crackling over her wristband.

“We’re being attacked! Lacroix, the enemy is here! You need to call everyone to defend... _o-oh god!_ Kill them, fire god damn it!”

The line crackled with the gunfire and Amélie immediately drew her sidearm, aiming it at Sombra in a split second.

“Tell me that this was not fucking planned!?” She snarled.

“No, no...Amélie this isn’t me, you know _exactly_ who just showed up.” Sombra stated, pulling out her gun and bringing a hand up to her earpiece to call back her agents.

Over her communicator, Amélie was helpless as she listened to the screams from Overwatch and Talon foot soldiers alike. All she could gather were that these enemy soldiers were hard to kill, and _did not relent._

With a snarl, Amélie looked back towards where her companions stood and shouted to them, “We have got company! Hanzo get to higher ground, Jesse get some of the men and get inside with those scientists - _do not let them die._ As for the rest of you, get ready to receive the enemy!”

“L-lacroix! Do you read?” A panicked voice came over her wristband.

“Yes, what the hell is going on?”

There was more gunfire and the soldier came back, “It’s dark! All the lights in here went out, we can’t see a goddamn thing! But…-h god...what i-is _that?”_

Suddenly there was a low whirring noise and the line went dead following a series of rapid gunshots and screams. _These fucking monsters._ Slaughtering these soldiers like they were some sort of animals only meant to be killed, gunning them down without remorse.

Her men poured back into the pavilion just as the large double doors from the halls began to spark, whoever was on the other side - they were cutting right through them. Lifting his shield, Reinhardt took a defensive position right in front of the soldiers to cover them.

All guns were trained on the door, this was it.

Amélie dashed past them all to take up position to the right of the large door, bracing her rifle against a section of wall that had chipped away from years of being in disrepair. Any second now, those doors would collapse in on themselves and whatever lay on the other side would come rushing through.

_Breathe, focus...take the kill shot._

Her fingers flexed nervously on the trigger as she peered down the scope, swearing she could feel her own heartbeat through the stock of the gun. But it was not fear coursing through her veins, nor was it nerves. It was adrenaline, the _thrill_ of a hunt. Of a kill to be made.

It was _Widowmaker._

Before she could even force those feelings down, the doors burst open and shards of metal flew through the air. Luckily most of the debris was caught by Reinhardt’s shield, along with the hailstorm of bullets that followed soon after.

Through the smoke came soldiers, except everything about them seemed off and just simply dark. Their movements mechanical, their armor seemingly attached to their bodies and it made them slow. No, these were not men. _They were machines._

_And surprisingly easy to cut down._

It was not even after 5 minutes of gunfire did the last one fall to the stone floor, Amélie lifted her head from her rifle and looked over towards Sombra and the others.

“What were those!?”

Sombra shrugged from where she crouched behind cover, “Beats me! Maybe the bases security or something? One of the men might have tripped the system while patrolling.”

There was a sharp crunch of stones and all guns immediately trained right back on the doorway again, something lurked in the darkness of the hall - _watching them._ Amélie tried desperately to make out any sort of detail in the blackness, but it was hopeless. Staring into that hallway was like staring into a void, it was simply _too dark._

A laugh echoed from within the shadows, low and almost inhuman. Slowly it built into a fit of laughter that had their blood running cold. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of purple light, almost blinding in its intensity and a loud voice cried out with it.

_“Helden sterben nicht!”_

_Mercy..._

Amélie knew what was coming with that very first word to leave Mercy’s mouth, only just managing to shout out an order to get down before the horrifying inhuman screams of those felled soldiers overpowered all else. These soldier _had_ been human once before, they screamed like humans who suffered. Like they were being ripped back into the world when they had only sought to die, it was a violent and painful resurrection.

_It was a second chance at life that they did not seek._

Once again, those soldiers rose and despite the agony they had to endure - they still fought in their master’s name and with a far greater ferocity than before. Amélie barely got herself under cover as they laid down fire on her, she had to get to Mercy. _Mercy was her target._

When a break in the fire came, Amélie launched herself over cover to see Mercy emerging from the doorway. She had to get her away from the fighting, away from these _blasted soldiers._ Otherwise they would overpower the Overwatch/Talon forces in minutes.

So she did the single stupidest thing one could possibly do in that moment.

_“Angela!”_

That name made Mercy turn her attention fully towards the one who had spoken it, finding Amélie standing there. Looking far more prepared for a fight this time around than she had during their first encounter, no longer dressed in the Overwatch re-coloration of her Widowmaker-esque cat suit. No, now she donned a dark blue coat with the crest of Overwatch proudly emblazoned upon the shoulders, it covered the combat armor attached to her chest and a portion of the metal boots shielding her legs from harm

Rifle slung over her shoulder and handgun at her hip, Amélie looked ready for a face off. Mercy turned her attention from the firefight happening and fully onto Amélie, her wings unfolding behind her as her metal arm flared to life. _Oh, this was going to be good._

“ _Lacroix,_ love the new uniform...look just like another one of Overwatch’s pathetic little girl scouts _.”_ Mercy sneered as she took a step closer, giving Amélie an unimpressed once over.

“Oh that is just _rich_ coming from you, chérie. You are dressed up like a cliche cartoon villain, it’s unoriginal and just...sad really.” The snark slipping from Amélie’s mouth before she could stop herself.

A snarl ripped its way out of Mercy’s throat and she spat, “You’re going to regret that, I will be the last thing you see before you leave this world.”

“That’s a shame, I would have rathered to look at something far less... _repulsive_ upon my death.”

With that Mercy lunged forward, wings stretched out and seeming to carry her as she propelled herself towards Amélie. A smirk crossed over Amélie’s face, aiming her grappling hook up and firing just moments before Mercy would collide with her. Pulled from the line of fire, Amélie looked down to witness Mercy slam into the concrete wall - shattering it on impact and sending dust every which way.

“You’re going to need to move faster than that, _chaton._ Time off of a real battlefield has made you lazy!” Amélie shouted down, balancing herself on the railing of a balcony far above.

Mercy eventually emerged from the rubble, covered in dust and growling. Violet eyes shot up and immediately trained on Amélie, a grin flashing across pale lips as she called back, “You can’t run from me, Lacroix.”

“Well actually, I like to think I can...you have no way of getting up here that doesn’t involve a flight of stairs and I won’t be waiting around to fi-.”

Before Amélie could even register what had happened, Mercy sped up through the air towards her. Metal fist just grazing her jaw as Amélie threw herself back off of the railing to avoid the punch. She felt blood trickling down her cheek as Mercy landed on the railing, still grinning.

“You were saying?”

Amélie lay on the floor, _shocked_ at what she had just witnessed. Her voice wavering, _“H-how?”_

Mercy jumped down from the railing, landing at Amélie’s feet. Watching as she scrambled back desperately before speaking, “Talon’s brainwashing and experiments came with a few _upgrades_ ...so to speak. Angela could glide to her teammates, I can _choose_ my target...whoever that may be.”

Amélie jumped up to her feet and pulled out her side arm, knowing it to be too close quarters for her rifle. The barrel leveled directly between Mercy’s eyes, which flickered with her amusement. Amélie’s finger slipped down onto the trigger in an instant, and she locked her position.

“Don’t come _any closer.”_ She warned, her fingers shifting.

“Now, now... _Amélie,_ we both know you don’t have the guts to pull that trigger. You would never hurt your prec-.”

With a trembling hand, Amélie pulled the trigger and fired. The bullet connected with Mercy’s shoulder, subsequently cutting off her speech and making the woman stumble slightly. Very real, _very human_ blood seeped from the wound and Mercy smirked as she ran her hand over it.

“Surprised that they haven’t made me _all_ machine? Or surprised that I still have a heart left which allows me to bleed?” Mercy taunted when she saw the look of surprise flash across Amélie’s face.

Amélie grit her teeth and shouted with a fury burning harsh in her words, “I said don’t _fucking_ come any closer.”

That seemed to halt Mercy’s movements, the doctor bringing her hands up - palms forward as if she was in a position of surrender. Violet flickered as she focused on the gun in Amélie’s hands, “What do you intend to do _now?_ Am I to die at your hands - _a second time?”_

Amélie shook her head, her grip on her firearm tightening. She couldn’t let Mercy get into her head, _she wouldn’t._ That would be the end of her if Mercy was allowed to slip into her thoughts, to taunt Amélie with her biggest regret.

“No! _No._ I’m going to stop _you_ , I am going to stop _Mercy.”_

A soft smile spread across Mercy’s lips and she purred, “Oh dear, sweet Amélie...when did you start thinking of her and I as _different people?”_

In that moment, Amélie took off running and Mercy gave chase with a sickening laugh.

“Oh come on, Lacroix! We were having so much fun.” She taunted.

Amélie got herself around the corner and ducked down behind a wall, listening to Mercy’s heavy footfalls as they drew closer and closer to where she hid. Metal ground against metal, the screech nearly made her hiss in pain.

“As much as you adore these games of cat and mouse, _liebling._ I am afraid I do not have time for them.”

Mercy suddenly stopped walking then, hearing a snicker echo from somewhere behind her.

“Oh _chaton,_ who said anything about hiding?”

She spun around only to be met with a fist to the face. Amélie was stanced up to fight in front of her, ready to strike again but she stopped when Mercy began to laugh. Turning her head back towards Amélie.

“You’re going to need to be faster than that, Amélie.”

Amélie wasted no time in throwing another punch, but this time flesh connected with metal. Mercy’s metal hand having caught the swing in no time and Amélie felt her heart stop, _this was bad, this was so bad._

“What did I just tell you?”

Without hesitation, Mercy pulled Amélie in and flipped her over her shoulder. Slamming the woman down into the metal walkway, immediately stealing the breath from her lungs and sending pain shooting down her spine.

_“Too slow.”_

Amélie kicked Mercy back with a snarl, scrambling to her feet and swaying as she struggled to regain her composure. She had to win this fight, _she had to._ Her own life and the lives of all those below counted on it, surely Mercy had a weakness. Just one weakness would be enough for Amélie to exploit and bring her down.

There was a flash of purple that passed between them, it alone was enough to pull Mercy’s attention off of Amélie. Seeing the chance to strike at the momentary distraction, Amélie immediately took it. Her gloved hand placed a hard strike against Mercy’s jaw with a sharp crack, throwing the doctor’s head to the side.

“Is that really all you have, Lacroix? Or do I need to teach you how to _really_ hit someo-.”

Before she could even finish, a foot was brought forward into her chin. The world spun for a moment as the hard, fast kick from Amélie sent her stumbling back into the ground. Her vision blurred and she snarled in pain as she brought her human hand up to her face.

Amélie watched Mercy rise up from the ground on shaky knees and wipe her hand across her mouth with a grunt, violet eyes peering down to regard the blood that was smeared across her palm. A startled expression flashed across her face for the briefest of moments but it was just as quickly gone when Mercy managed a small smirk, panting hard as focused her gaze back on Amélie who was still poised to attack.

“Good hit, but you’ll still need to do a hell of a lot better than _that.”_

She caught a faint glimmer of laughter on Amélie’s own lips, a gentle beeping reached her ears and suddenly purple, web like lines encompassed her metal arm. Amélie watched with a smirk as the arm went limp as the lines vanished, the limb becoming dead weight on Mercy’s body and surely slowly her down. The doctor roared with anger, her eyes flashing as she snarled out, _“Sombra, you traitor!”_

At the mention of her name, Sombra reappeared right next to Amélie with a grin of her own plastered across her face.

“You called?”

“I will _slaughter_ you both.”

Sombra nudged Amélie, laughing. “Slaughter us? Big talk for a woman who’s got only one good ar-.”

Without a second thought, Mercy took ahold of her metal arm in her human hand and violently tore it from her body. The snarl that tore its way out of her throat was laced with her pain, her chest heaved with harsh breaths and tremors as the limbs connection with her nervous system was severed instantly.

It was a shock to her body, but Mercy did not appear otherwise phased by the pain. Seeing her without the arm made Amélie’s stomach churn, she felt sick. _This was your doing._ Those words echoed over and over as Mercy carelessly tossed the limb into the dirt, her eyes narrowing at the two startled women in front of her.

The socket on the stump of her severed limb was a disaster to look at, metal bent and twisted horribly. Amidst the mass of wires, one cord leaked a bright neon blue liquid - likely a coolant of sorts. The bright blue was a stark contrast against her blackened armor, trickling down her right side and pooling onto the ground beneath her boots.

Mercy ran her hand through the substance painted across her side, smearing it across her armor. Pale skin turned up completely blue as she pulled it away, staring at her palm. With a low chuckle, she lifted her hand and painted the neon color across her face. Relishing in the horror spreading across the faces of both Sombra and Amélie.

 _“I only need one arm to kill you both.”_ Mercy taunted, shifting forward on unsteady feet.

With a cheshire grin spread across her face, Mercy looked to be the very image of a psychopath. Her purple hair tied back seemed to be far messier than usual, the shattered black halo crowned atop her skull cast a soft purple light down across her face. One fresh cut crossed down over her lip allowed blood to seep down her chin with the coolant and down onto her chest, mixing with the neon blue liquid.

Sombra stammered, still in shock, “Y-you just...ripped off _your a-arm!?”_

“Yes...and it’s made such a mess of my armor, all because you couldn’t play _fair_.” Mercy spat out, gesturing to herself.

Amélie’s wristband flared to life, a voice cutting through the static, “Amélie we need you down here! We are being overrun!”

Sombra grabbed Amélie’s arm and pushed her away from Mercy, “You need to go, Lacroix! I’ll take care of this bitch.”

“She’s not going anywhere!”

Mercy lunged then but Sombra reached out and grabbed the doctor, slamming her back into the wall. Amélie jumped back from the fight, Sombra looked to her only once and shouted desperately, “Get the research and _get out of here.”_

With a nod, Amélie jumped from the railing and down into the firefight below where Mercy’s soldiers were backing them into the lab with the scientists. Their soldiers held the front line while the heroes struggled to pull back the injured, but they were getting mowed down.

This wasn’t a firefight, it was a goddamn massacre.

Each one of Mercy’s soldiers stepped over the numerous corpses of Talon and Overwatch soldiers alike on their way towards the group. She pulled out her sidearm, grabbing the arm of a nearby soldier and pulling them back with her as she picked off several of the cyborgs with quick head shots.

_“Fuck!”_

The soldier she had been dragging along was struck, falling to the dirt and nearly taking Amélie down with them. She tried to reach out for them but she was yanked back through the closing doors, stumbling back onto the floor. Her heart dropping as the heavy doors slid shut, listening to the cries of the soldiers stuck on the other side.

_Those bastards!_

Hanzo and Jesse watched her stumble to her feet, scan the room briefly before rushing over to the scientists. She grabbed Samuel by the front of his lab coat and spat out, “She’s here, _your fucking creation is here._ You had better know a way out or so help me god, I will personally hold you responsible for all the deaths here today.”

“The only way out is on the other side of the complex! _Through the way you came in._ We can move further in but it won’t do us much good!”

Amélie threw him to the floor, “What fucking moron builds a base without more escape routes!?”

“There is one escape route, but it will take time to open it.” Chipped in the other scientist.

Samuel looked shocked, “What? Where?”

“Utility shaft built into the floor down the hallway once you go through that door, takes you beneath the base and to the underground hangar. But it has a timed lock, says it opens after a minute and thirty seconds but the time is actually one-twenty one.” The woman gestured towards the other doors in the room.

Jesse came over to Amélie’s side and took her arm, trying to get her to look at him. She hissed at the touch and recoiled, ordering, “Make copies of all your work now. We need to get you both out of here right now.”

Samuel held up several data drives. “Already way ahead of you, ma’am. 4 different copies, greater chance of everything surviving. But we still must pack the sample cases.”

Suddenly there was a buzzing at the door and sparks began to erupt into the room, Amélie took this as a sign to get moving and placed a disk into the hands of Hanzo. With a shove, she pushed him towards the door and stated, “Run archer, you do not want to be here to witness what happens next. You may be our only hope at saving her.”

Hanzo took the disk and held it close to his chest, stopping only to cast a sad glance towards Jesse before he ran straight through the doors. Amélie turned to Reinhardt and several of the newer recruits, handing the crusader another disk.

“Guard this with your life Reinhardt, and follow Hanzo.”

He saluted her and ushered the recruits along with him through the doorway, leaving Amélie, Jesse, the scientists and several of their highly skilled soldiers. Lined up to face the door with their weapons ready, Amélie stood alongside Jesse and spoke, “Hold your ground while they work, we take down as many as we can and then we get these scientists out of here. We cannot risk being followed so closely.”

Except that plan fell apart in a split second, the sparks stopped suddenly and everyone lowered their guns - thinking the coast to be clear. They had not cut all the way through, there was no way they were getting in here without tha-

Metal screeched and exploded, small chimes filled the room as grenades were rolled inside. Coming to a stop at the feet of Amélie and her soldiers, she went to shout out an order but gas was cutting off her words before she could even think of spitting them out.

Sinking to her knees next to Jesse, Amélie felt her body growing weak and her muscles locking up. Falling back against the wall, half sitting - half laying on the cold floors. _Nerve gas, it was fucking nerve gas._ Amélie managed to look to the scientists and saw them just standing there, unphased by what was happening around them.

Mercy’s voice reached her ears then, “Do not fret, Lacroix. These traitors had no part to play in this attack, but they _are_ immune to Talon’s nerve gas. I can’t just use _any_ old nerve gas. _I like my prey screaming in pain.”_

Jesse choked next to Amélie and managed to spit out, _“Angie…”_

Violet eyes fell upon the cowboy and a devilish smirk crossed over those bloodied lips, _“Jesse-fucking-McCree._ Not much of a hero now are you? I wonder how much it’ll break you to see your dear old ‘Angie’ become a murderer.”

She looked to the scientists and murmured, “Let’s find out, shall we?”

Amélie couldn’t shut her eyes to shield herself from the slaughter, no matter how desperately she screamed at her mind to just shut off. To hit pause on this moment and just erase it from existence, _god let me forget this, please take this away._

She felt Jesse’s hand, the metal one just barely moving alongside her own. Trying desperately to hold onto the woman, even while they watched helplessly as Mercy tore those scientists apart. Even without her metal arm to use as her weapon of choice, it did not make her any less creative with these kills.

Amélie had seen the glint of a blade and she knew that those scientists were goners, watching as she brought death most violent down upon them. Blood and gore covered the console, the walls - it was everywhere. With a sickening amount of care, Mercy placed their heads on top of the console and smirked when her work was done.

Lifting the remaining data disks in her hand, Mercy laughed and stated as she tossed them down, “I will give it to them, copying the files was ingenious! But without these? God, that means not hope for you, Amélie.”

In a split second, she brought her heel down on them over and over. Crushing them in an instant right in front of Amélie’s eyes, the crunch of those drives would have broken her - had Amélie not known there to be _two others._

A hand came to her chin and Amélie was forced to look upon Mercy’s horrid visage, the blue liquid still smeared across her face with her own blood. That smirk burned into Amélie’s mind and that _voice._

“Don’t worry, I do not have any use for you or your pathetic friend here. Consider yourselves lucky this time. Your men however? They will not be spared.”

Mercy moved towards the door, leaving Amélie and Jesse against the wall still paralyzed by the nerve gas. She bowed to them, motioning to her men and ordering, “Kill the soldiers then fall back to the ship, we have done our part. Let the wolves come for these two.”

Darkness began to ebb into Amélie’s vision as she watched those _cursed_  machines execute her men without remorse, stepping on their corpses as they walked away like they were just part of the earth beneath them. They were monsters, just like their master was.  _What the fuck was Talon thinking?_

 _"Give me strength, forgive me for what I have done...these souls were led to their slaughter. God what have I done?"_ She chided at herself.

Yet even as her vision failed, her auditory sense persisted for a few moments longer. It was more than enough time to hear panicked shouts, Mercy shouting at her men and then the loud proclamation which was left ringing in Amélie’s ears before she passed out.

**_“Die! Die! Die!”_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mercy coming in with that sweet dozen man rez (only in AoD do I not nerf Mercy)


	10. Web of Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After barely surviving their first encounter with the newly reformed Mercy, Overwatch accompanied by both Reaper and Sombra escape from the retired Talon base with the remaining drives. Ready to learn the secrets they hold. Meanwhile, Mercy on the brink of death is pulled back to find herself face to face with an old rival and a bargain is struck that could be the end of Overwatch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5 MONTHS LATER Y'ALL GET AN UPDATE IM SO SORRY

_ Hope… _

Was that something even worth having anymore? Could it be deemed childish? Or maybe even naive at this point? 

To think that maybe,  _ just maybe,  _ there was something still human inside of Mercy? A piece that was just still Angela, despite all the torment and pain that had been laid to bear upon her soul. Did lingering fragments of a woman who had been taken and changed into some sort of monster still dwell inside?

…or was Angela long gone? 

Was she little more than a ghost lingering in the back of their minds? Haunting them with a false hope and pain every time they were forced to gaze upon Mercy’s grim visage.

No, Amélie could not - _ would not  _ believe that. Even as the flayed bodies of her squad lay at her feet, all felled by a twisted steel arm. She would not fall victim to that belief again, to the grief of losing Angela.  _ She would always have hope _ ,  _ even if it killed her. _

“A-Amy…” Jesse managed croak from where he lay beside her, but Amélie couldn’t turn her head to look at him. The nerve gas still hadn’t faded from their systems just yet, but she could feel sensation returning slowly but surely.

“Oui…?” She hummed back, her voice dry and raw. Her own breath caught in her throat, her bloodied hand struggled to even begin moving as she reached for Jesse.

Warm metal fingers found hers, a barely noticeable squeeze graced her palm. Jesse could barely move himself yet he tried so hard for her, so she would know he was still with her. 

“I-i’m...so-sorry…”

She could only manage a small breathless laugh, shutting her eyes as a wave of nausea overtook her senses. There was a low sound, a grinding of metal as the side doors into the lab open. Reinhardt’s unmistakable voice reached her ears just moments later, “Here! Jesse and Amélie still live.”

Footsteps caught their attention when suddenly Hanzo appeared in front of her, kneeling down amidst the broken metal and stone. His hand reached out to her face and he gave her a soft pat on the cheek, managing to pull a smile from her.

“Stay with me, Lacroix. We are almost through this.”

“The d-drives?  Did you…?”

Hanzo patted the pouch on his side with a nod. “Safe and sound, Reinhardt still has his as well. Our pieces of the data are intact.”

There was a crunch of metal and everyone stopped, turning towards the blown open door to see Reaper standing there. His hollow, blackened eyes seemed to scan over the scene laid out before him, before he found them landing on Amélie.

“You should not have come here,  _ idiot.  _ She could have killed you all.” Reaper growled, stopping at Amélie’s feet as Hanzo stepped aside to give him room.

The woman looked up at him, shooting a bloodied grin his way before she quipped, “Perhaps...but she  _ didn’t _ , Angela has got to be in there somewhere. I feel it. I need to believe.”

Scoffing, Reaper moved to lift her up into his arms. Huffing as Amélie wrapped her arm around his shoulder, holding onto him for all she was worth. For a moment, she swore she heard him whisper “I’ve got you” under his breath. 

“You are more naive than I thought if you still choose to believe that.” He spoke up, much louder this time.

Amélie tried to argue but the words caught in her throat, another wave of nausea swept over her and she felt herself on the brink of a blackout. Reaper too seemed to sense this and held on just a bit tighter, stepping out over the rubble and out into the courtyard.

She caught a glimpse of the Overwatch dropship above and felt a wave of relief wash over her, they would be going home now. Perhaps not all of them, this mission had been a slaughter but…

_ Wait. _

“Did you find h-her? Did you...find Sombra?” Amélie stammered out, turning her gaze from the ship to Reaper.

“They already have her aboard...her condition is...”

His words trailed off and Amélie did not need to hear more to understand that it was  _ bad.  _ She felt a pang of guilt coil up in her stomach, they had both turned their backs on Talon for her. Sombra stayed back to hold off Mercy for just a few minutes more and it might have gotten her killed, those precious seconds were something Amélie could never be more grateful for. It was a debt she would be paying off for the rest of her life, however much of it was even left at this rate.

They loaded her and the remaining survivors onto the drop ship as it landed in the courtyard. She looked around the bay of the ship from where she was laid down to find her friends otherwise unscathed, grim expressions covered each of their faces but they were alive and no worse for wear. They had taken a chance in trusting her and while Mercy may have thought that she had destroyed the last glimmers of hope, she was mistaken.

Amélie looked to Hanzo and called out, “The drives...bring them here to me.”

It took him no time to retrieve the drives that she had passed out to the others, walking across the ship to her cot and kneeling alongside her. She gingerly wrapped her shaking hands around the small metal drives, a smile curling up on her lips as she whispered,  _ “Hope…” _

Suddenly the ship shook and her world began to spin as it took off into the skies, heading back towards the safety of Watchpoint Gibraltar. She clutched onto the drives with dear life, feeling Hanzo place his hand on top of hers. 

“You did well, Lacroix. We will save her because of this.”

Amélie shook her head, “Do not thank me, if not for Reaper and Sombra turning against Talon to bring us that intel I do not think we would even have been here right now. We would never have a hope of saving her without them.”

Hanzo nodded solemnly, squeezing her hand and turning to look over at where Reaper was sitting alongside Sombra’s cot. They might have been villains but something made them turn, to go against all they had known to help Overwatch in its darkest moment. 

_ To help stop Mercy. _

“Mercy…”

Jesse managed to stumble over to her side, taking her hand in between his own. 

“I am sorry I didn’t get her, I just saw her and...I couldn’t. Even after what she did to our men, I still - I don’t think I could put her down.”

Amélie shook her head, squeezing his hand. “It’s okay, Jesse -  _ you won’t have to _ . We are going to save her, I know we will.”

He gave a small nod and turned his gaze over to Reaper, who sat across the dropship alongside Sombra’s cot. Jesse hesitated for a moment before calling out, “So what exactly should we be expectin’ to find on these drives?”

He replied without even looking up. “Unsure. Sombra knows exactly what they have on them. All I know is they were important to Talon and now that you have them…”

Amélie raised an eyebrow and carefully pushed herself up off of the cot, grunting in pain.

“Now that we have them…?”

Reaper finally met her gaze. “They have never been so desperate to see them destroyed.”

Jesse frowned and opened his mouth to argue but Amélie spoke first, “Because they must have the intel we need to stop Mercy and perhaps even Talon,  _ for good. _ ”

“Then it means it is absolutely invaluable to us.” Hanzo chimed up, cracking a small smile.

Amélie nodded, bringing a hand up to her chin. Focusing on the small silver drive in her hand, all these months of worry and fear. Yet right in her hand might very well be the key to ending it all, to saving Angela and bringing down Talon.

It was  _ Hope.  _

_ Their only Hope. _

* * *

“She’s bleeding out! Fuck there is so much blood, we need all medical staff on hand RIGHT NOW.”

“What happened!?”

“Reaper happened. God help us…”

Crimson blood and neon blue coolant stained pale skin and armor alike, Mercy could barely remember just how much of the blood was her own or belonged to her soldiers. Oblivion hugged the edges of her vision, beckoning her further into its embrace. It was so close, she was  _ so, so close _ …

_ “Get me the fucking shot! No, from the medpack over there, you idiot!” _

She could barely make out the voices shouting around her, sounding more akin to mere whispers than of desperate pleas. But every second that ticked by, the silence seemed to grow louder and louder. Her hand trembled and she felt only a phantom pain where her metal arm was once attached. 

Of course she had to go and rip it off of herself.

“Fuck! We’re not trained for this, go get Doctor O’Deorain and the rest of the medical staff!”

Mercy was unsure how much time had passed but soon she found a flash of red crossing into her vision and it lingered, someone was standing directly over her. A hand slid against her collarbone and she caught the newcomer’s expression of confusion before they spoke up.

“Keep with me, Doctor Ziegler. I will tear you back from death’s door myself.”

Suddenly a long monotonous beep filled the room and Mercy realized it was from that of the monitor hooked up to her,  _ her heart had stopped.  _ Voices rose above the noise but Mercy faded into oblivion long before she could hear any of it.

Yet instead of the comfort of death, Mercy found that she was able to open her eyes and was immediately blinded by the lights overhead. Mercy tried to call out into the room but no sound came from her, she had  _ no voice.  _ Her jaw felt heavy and her head spun like no tomorrow, hell she could even barely manage to breath if it weren’t for the oxygen being pumped into her mask.

That all too familiar hint of red appeared in her vision again and Mercy scowled, begging for whatever injuries she had suffered to claim her life this instant.

_ Moira O’Deorain. _

Almost sensing her disdain, Moira smirked down at her before turning her focus back to the monitors next to Mercy’s exam table. She tapped away on the tablet in her arms, seemingly taking notes while Mercy struggled in her bonds.

“Ziegler, there is no need to struggle. I put those on you to avoid you causing further harm to yourself. I will be removing them as soon as I am finished here.”

Hate rolled off of Mercy in waves being this close to Moira and it was something that the doctor seemed to sense quite well, but did not pay mind to her. Mercy forced a snarl out of her throat and Moira actually stopped typing. Violet eyes burned so fiercely but Moira just rolled her eyes at the theatrics, turning back to her work.

“You would think that after having endured a twelve hour surgery that your otherwise... _ deplorable _ mood would have gone entirely. It does so appear that I was wrong, for once.”

Mercy would have cursed Moira out for that comment, but with her vocal chords currently in ruins and the oxygen mask locked over her mouth - it made cursing of any sort impossible. She settled for narrowing her eyes, hoping that despite her miserable state that it did not affect her ability to make a  _ fucking point. _

Moira only laughed at her. “Come now, Ziegler. Surely you did not think that just because you have gotten quite the upgrade and an even more abysmal attitude than before that I would  _ ever  _ find you remotely intimidating?”

_ You are lucky I am unable to speak, foul mouthed bit- _

Nails trailed along her cheek and pulled Mercy’s focus back to the woman standing before her, their eyes locked. A wry smirk rose up on Moira’s lips, humming in approval, “Talon has done well with your upgrades however, I almost did not recognize you but that silly halo of yours gave it all away. Icarus may have been a foolish man, but he  _ did  _ know how to create a monster.”

With a grunt, Mercy shook away Moira’s touch. The violet in her eyes flaring up but still Moira did not even flinch at her display of anger. Turning away from her patient, Moira crossed the room to a set of tools and various metal plates. All Mercy could hear was the clinking of steel as sharpened nails were dragged across the tools, drowning out the low consistent hum of the machine that she was hooked up to.

“I suppose it would do us good if we fixed those vocal chords of yours, Well...as much as we can. The damage to them was extensive. Talon deems it necessary that you are speaking again. As much as I would take absolute pleasure in never having to hear your voice again.” Moira quipped, looking back over her shoulder at Mercy.

Coming over to where Mercy lay on the exam table, Moira brought a syringe filled with blue liquid up to the column of her throat. Mercy watched with narrowed eyes, Moira could almost sense the question in her expression as she wiped at her skin with a small sanitizing cloth.

“These are your nanobots, Ziegler.  _ Your  _ creations. With a few of my own personal tweaks of course but they will repair the remaining damage as best they can. And get you on your feet much faster after the extensive surgery.”

Mercy felt no pain as the needle was pushed into her skin. Moira smirked and added as she injected the solution, “Oh, and this may hurt just a little bit. Even for you.”

It only took a second before white hot pain shot through her throat, Mercy struggled in her bonds. Trying desperately to reach for her own neck, it felt like she had swallowed flames and the burning felt so real. She tried to scream, to call out into the darkness of the med bay for a release from this pain. But it was muted, no screams fell from her lips.

“Push through, Doctor. You will make it to the end. Any second now....”

Suddenly the nerves in her throat seemed to jolt and a gasp fell from her lips, the pain ebbed away with it. Mercy lay there with heavy breaths falling from her lips, over and over. Collecting herself, she looked at Moira who was watching her with a raised eyebrow.

“I am...g-going to kill...you.”

Moira grinned wide, “There is the Angela Ziegler I know.”

“I am...not h-her.”

Rolling her eyes, Moira turned away from the exam table back to where her tools lay. Her voice cold as she spoke, “No of course you’re not, you are whatever demon they decided to replace her with.”

Mercy scowled, listening in as Moira seemed to be fitting the metal pieces together. “What..a-are you...doing  _ n-now,  _ O'Deorain?”

“Patience, doctor, you will get to see.”

She lifted the item from the table and held it up towards Mercy, strolling forward. It appeared to be some sort of mask, similar in shape to the oxygen mask currently over her mouth. Moira’s fingers deftly sliding up and loosening the strap which held Mercy down, allowing her to sit up.

“W-what did...you do t-to...me?” Mercy said.

“When Reaper attacked, you were severely wounded and terribly scarred. Not even the nanobots  _ you created _ were advanced enough to fix all the damage to a punctured lung. You can still breathe of course but it will be a struggle, likely the permanent sort. This device is meant to hook into the new implants we added to your jaw and assist you with that task.” 

Mercy scowled as Moira reached up and slid the oxygen mask off of her face, sitting it aside on the cart. Her struggle to breathe was almost immediate, she  _ could  _ but scarcely. It was as if the simple task of breathing had become far more taxing than it should ever be.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Mercy tried to level out the rhythm of her breaths in the hopes of becoming accustomed to this struggle but to no avail. She felt the sensation of metal grazing her face as Moira promptly clicked the breathing mask into place. There was a soft click and Moira turned two dials on the mask until a small hiss radiated from it, locking it into place over Mercy’s mouth.

Cool air graced her lips, hitting her lungs moments after. Mercy found herself able to breathe peacefully once again, taking in deep, steady breaths. Moira’s hand rubbed slow circles along the spinal implant, her voice unusually soft.

“Breathe again, Ziegler. You are fine, you will persevere. That is how Talon made you to be.”

Mercy turned her head towards her, eyes narrowing dangerously. Moira’s praises were beginning to sound quite familiar to those of the late Icarus and if Mercy could feel unnerved by that in this very moment then she would have.

She was a precious tool to that man, his plaything -  _ his magnum opus  _ as he did so love to call her. Every twisted, foul thing they had done to her was artwork to him and he would be so disappointed to see it going to such waste now.

But she would not let that repeat with Doctor O’Deorain, or with anyone ever again. She would tear apart every single Talon agent if that is what it took to be free, Mercy was not a weapon - not  _ anyone’s  _ weapon.

“Do  _ not  _ call me by that name.”

Scoffing, Moira replied. “How then, would you have me address you? Certainly you do not mean to have me call you  _ Mercy? _ ”

“That is  _ exactly  _ how I want you to address me, I am not  _ Doctor Ziegler.  _ Not anymore.”

“Perhaps not, but you wear her face -  _ Mercy.  _ The people who loved her and who she loved back are going to do everything in their power to see her back in control.” 

Silence overtook the pair of them as Mercy grew silent, the only sound to be heard was that of the machines whirring behind them. Mercy felt Angela’s burst of emotion at that sentence, but she quelled it before it became known.

“Finally got you to shut up? A miracle really. Talon truly has done impeccable work with you.”

A low snicker came from Mercy which steadily grew into a sort of maniacal laughter, through her mask it came out sounding hollow and robotic. Echoing off the walls of the lab and ringing in the air, Moira just frowned.

“Do I look like a comedian? What the devil is so funny?” Moira sneered.

Mercy took a moment to collect herself, her laughter finally ebbing away before she said, “You seem to think that they even remotely stand a chance of accomplishing such a goal, Angela is  _ gone. _ ”

“Well Talon has seemed to make a version of Angela Ziegler that manages not to spew self righteous nonsense constantly, so I would say that just about anything is possible at this rate.”

Mercy was about to speak when suddenly the doors into the lab opened, in stepping Akande himself with a grim expression painted across his face. Moira looked from him to Mercy and then back again, visibly becoming tense.

“Leave us, Doctor.” He boomed.

“Now by that, do you mean her or me? You will have to specify.” Mercy quipped. A smirk on her face which was thankfully shielded by her mask.

Akande frowned, evidently he was not impressed with her attempt at humor. “I meant...Doctor  _ O'Deorain.  _ Kindly go fetch Ziegler’s things.”

Moira looked back to Mercy but said nothing more. Briskly taking her leave from the lab, leaving Akande alone with her. 

“They betrayed you, you know. Didn’t even think twice before they drove that metaphorical blade right into your back and ran off with your precious intel.” Mercy spat, swinging her legs over the side of the exam table.

“I am well aware.”

But Mercy did not stop there.

“They broke your trust, they made you think they were your allies. But yet this whole time they have been scheming behind your back, plotting with each other in the shadows.”

“I said, I am  _ aware _ .”

She snarled, very clearly not done with him yet.

“They betrayed Talon, Akande. It makes one wonder what else they might have done in the shadows while no one else was aware, how many secrets they might have sold. They have to pay for their trea-.”

With a roar, Akande upturned the cart of tools he stood next to with one hand. Jabbing a finger in Mercy’s direction, snapping out, “ _ I know!” _

That seemed to shut her up quickly, Akande took a breath to collect himself and approached. His human hand moving up to force Mercy to look at him.

“You do not need to remind me of what they have done. Betrayal is a part of Talon, the strong overthrowing and exploiting the weak.”

Mercy glared after Akande as he shoved away from her with a grunt, turning away to pace back and forth across the lab floor. 

“It was something your creator, Icarus knew about all too well. He sought to use your cybernetic enhancements to execute the council of leaders and seat himself at the mantle. To assume complete control. And he very well could have succeeded, had you not butchered him like an animal yourself.”

_ I really was his weapon, why that slimy bastard… _

_ Let me show you what I can do, how I cannot be controlled. _

“And do you not fear he has programmed me to complete that very same task?” She spat back without a moment's hesitation.

Akande’s face became unreadable, but soon his gaze hardened and Mercy could feel the cold rage pouring off of him. The doomfist flared up with raw energy before fading just as quickly as it had appeared, Mercy seemed to have struck a nerve there.

“ _ Has  _ he programmed you to do such a thing?” 

“Perhaps, perhaps not. Who knows?” Mercy teased, shrugging her shoulders.

Akande stepped forward and snapped back, “Mercy, I am serious. It is bad enough you went against _direct orders_. Got our men killed.”

“We killed more than we lost, our men were simply weak.”

“That is besides the point, Ziegler. We still lost those men, and we let the enemy get away with very important data. Do you understand what was on that drive Sombra took?”

Mercy laughed at that, “Well you do not have to fear for that data getting into the enemies hands, they were copying it onto a second drive when we breached the room. I crushed those disks  _ myself. _ ”

“You killed all of them?”

_ All of them except for Amélie and Jesse… _

Perhaps that was not the best way to word that to Akande, they had been dying already. Might as well have let them die alone surrounded by their fallen comrades, to be remind in their final moments that they failed.

“Yes I did.”

“Funny, because our scans picked up an Overwatch dropship landing there about twenty minutes after you managed to get all our men slaughtered.”

Mercy snapped. “What!? That is impossible, they were ALL DEAD.”

“You had better think real hard, Doctor. Were any of their agents missing when you breached that room?”

“Several but I had assumed my men had cleaned up the mess. They scattered when we broke their line, I heard confirmations of kills. I am absolutely certain.”

Akande opened his mouth to continue when the door opened and a lab attendant stepped in carrying a large metal case, freezing in their tracks when they spotted both Doomfist and Mercy glaring back at them. Mercy snickered as they grew visibly nervous.

“Uuuh, s-sorry to interrupt sir. Doctor O'Deorain sent me in with the tech you requested. But I-I can leave if this is a bad tim-.”

Akande waved his hand to cut them off, and motioned to the exam table where Mercy sat. “No, not a bad time. Place it next to Doctor Ziegler.”

Nervously, the attendant approached the table. Sitting the case down carefully on it next to Mercy, violet eyes watching them like a hawk. They went to retreat when a hand wrapped around their wrist and they found themselves being pulled back towards Mercy.

Pale fingers stroked up along their neck and grazed along the underside of their jaw, fearful shivering racking through their body. Mercy cooed, leaning in to graze her lips across the attendant’s cheek. 

“You are so afraid, its simply... _ exhilarating _ . I cannot believe Talon hires such soft, innocent young women to their cause.” She said, her voice sickeningly sweet.

“Kindly remove your hands from the lab attendant, Doctor. You will not torment her.” Akande barked out, preparing to step between them.

With a pout, Mercy released her hold on the attendant who wasted no time in backing away frantically. The young woman looked to Akande and he gestured towards the door, that was all the initiative they needed to leave the room just as quickly as they had entered.

“You are no fun, Akande.” 

“I need you to  _ focus.  _ Not spending your days chasing petty revenge and taunting my people.”

“Perhaps if I had no petty revenge to chase then, well I might have more free time to dedicate to Talon.” Mercy avoided Akande’s gaze, wondering how long it would take for him to catch on.

Which apparently was not long at all.

“Are you saying if I assist you in your pointless vendetta against all those that the former Doctor Ziegler cared for… you will be  _ willing  _ to work with Talon?” 

“See? Wasn’t so hard to come to that conclusion was it?”

Flicking open the locks of the case, Mercy pushed open the lid and lifted her replacement arm out. Clicking it into her shoulder piece before she continued, “You get me into Overwatch Headquarters  _ without setting off every goddamn alarm they have.  _ I will bring you the heads of every single last agent in that building…”

“And perhaps I will be more...amenable in regards to working with Talon.”

With a sharp hiss, her metal arm flared to life. Bright purple light illuminating the room before the armor plates shifted to cover it, only allowing it to peek between the gaps in the armor. Mercy gave a few experimental twists of her hand and flexing of her fingers, seemingly satisfied with the work.

Letting it fall to her side, she then extended her human hand out to Akande. 

“What do you say? Do we have ourselves a deal?”

There was pause, he looked between her hand and her face. It was a risk to trust her but if she really wanted Overwatch gone as much as he did, then perhaps it was a risk worth taking. 

_ Even if she is Icarus’ demon. _

With a smirk, Akande offered his hand out and took a hold of hers. Shaking firmly before he spoke, “You have a deal. But if you fail to hold up your end, then I will put you down myself.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,  _ sir. _ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TALON MERCY  
> i love her sm


	11. Inner Storms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She would make an order of the chaos, and leave none to stand against her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have no excuses as to why this took so long but here it isssss

The ship’s engine hummed low, a dull noise against an otherwise silent background. Sunlight peeked in through the cockpit’s window and illuminated the interior of the dropship, just falling short of where Mercy sat in the corner.

She had disembarked from Talon headquarters just a few hours prior and already they were nearly to their destination. Slaughtering every Overwatch agent within the halls of Gibraltar was one thing, making a completely silent approach to the base was another all together.

There was a ringing that echoed out from the console in the center of the ship’s bay and the pilot called back from the cockpit, “Akande is on the line, wants to speak to you, Doctor.”

“Fine, put him on.” Mercy grunted as she rose from her seat.

Moments later, the hologram of Akande appeared above the console. Grim expression on his face as always, Mercy prepared herself for the talking to she was about to get.

“I hope you know what you’re doing here, Mercy. And that you have a plan.”

She turned to stare at the hologram while she made a few small adjustments to her arm, a wry smile curling up on her lips beneath her mask. Her words shot back just as quickly

“I would not have offered it as a solution if I thought myself incapable of such a task. Give me the time I need, and I shall deliver you their heads.”

Akande scoffed, “You can talk this up all you wish, doctor. I will have more faith when I see that the deed is done.”

The pilot called back from the cockpit, “We are on approach to Watchpoint Gibraltar, cloaking engaged. About five minutes out.”

“That would be my signal, you will hear from me when its done.”

Tapping a button on the console, Akande’s hologram disappeared and Mercy turned towards the front of the ship. The pilot glanced over their shoulder as she came up to stand beside them, shifting nervously in their seat.

“Storm’s brewing on the horizon.”

Mercy hummed in acknowledgement, “Just keep her airborne. And be ready to pick me up when its done.”

“Of course ma’am.”

She scanned the sky above them, it grew dark and foggy with ominous black clouds. The wind picked up around them causing the ship to sway back and forth before the pilot leveled out. It howled, crying, warning, baying like a wolf into the night. Mercy shut her eyes and listened, even as the ship began to rock even more.

The first bolt of lightning shot through the air and caused the pilot to cuss harshly, evidently startled. Seconds later the rolling boom of the thunder reverberated overhead. Mercy could feel the raw power in her bones, how they shook as thunder echoed. It was  _exhilarating._

“Well shit, that was fast.”

Soon the rain fell too, slowly tapping against the window of the cockpit before it began to cascade like a waterfall from the sky. Pounding on the roof of ship as if it were demanding entrance inside.

“Put her down there, I will take care of the rest.”

The ship rocked unevenly, jostling Mercy and the few other crew members around. Feeling the world level out once more as the ship finally landed on the cliff’s edge above the base.

The pilot looked back at Mercy, “Bay door’s opened ma’am. I will pull the ship back for now, comms will be open so just call in when you are ready for that evac.”

Without another word, Mercy stepped down the ramp as it lowered to the ground. Metal boots connected with mud and Mercy took off at sprint towards the base, the landing pad coming into view as she approached the cliff ledge.

She slowed to a stop and crouched low in the mud, tapping a button on the side of her jaw implant as she peered down upon the platform below. With a click of metal, a visor flipped down over her eyes and zoomed her vision in tenfold.

“6 guards, wait no make that 8. Only one sniper on patrol however, easiest to start there. Get inside, slaughter the other agents first and then as i escape I shall take care of the others.”

Satisfied with her memorization of the guard positions and movements, Mercy reached up to press the button on her jaw to turn off the visor but her hand froze.

“Oh? What have we here?” Mercy murmured, lowering her hand and zooming in on the doors of the base.

There was Amélie - _alive._ She was walking into the main base door with Jesse McCree in tow. They appeared to be staring at something that Amélie held, shielding the item from the rain. Anger boiled up in Mercy’s chest.

“You _bitch,_ how on earth…”

Snarling, Mercy shook her head and watched the pair disappear inside the base. This would make no difference to her plans, they would meet their deaths here tonight. One way or another.

She pressed the button on her jaw and with a click her visor folded back into her implant. Mercy grunted as she rose up from the ground, taking a few steps back from the ledge.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she sprinted forward and leapt from the cliff. Descending rapidly down towards the base, aimed right for the tower next to the landing where the sniper was crouched down.

_Let’s hope this Talon tech works._

Just seconds before colliding with the tower wall, her metal arm flared to life. Her open palm hit the wall before she herself did and with a thud, she found herself hanging securely from side. Mercy peered down towards the sniper, seemingly unaware of her presence.

Lifting her other hand to connect with the metal, it immediately pulled her palm to the wall in a split second. The specialized glove that the Talon scientists had cooked up was working perfectly, and it flawlessly integrated with her arm.

With a soft laugh, she faded the light in her metal arm and slowly began to descend to the platform below. Her feet met the metal walkway and Mercy disconnected the gloves, freeing her hands.

Her eyes found the sniper, still crouched down with their rifle and oh, so blissfully unaware of her standing not even five feet away. Even as she stepped towards them, the howling wind and low rumble of thunder masked any sounds she was making. She almost felt bad for them.

_Almost._

Mercy was within reach of them in no time. For a moment she simply stood there, relishing in the ease of this kill before she struck. Her metal arm circled around their throat, tugging them up off of their knees and forcing them into her arms. Her other hand came up to cover their mouth, silencing any noise they might have made to signal the others.

“You got some fight in you, _I like that._ ”

She chuckled as she felt them desperately grasping at her arm, trying so hard to free themselves from her hold. It did nothing but amuse Mercy endlessly, how _pathetic_ they were. All she had to do was tighten her arm around their throat to feel their struggling slow and weaken.

“Shh, _shh..._ go easy, agent. Death is here, do not fight the end that comes.” Mercy cooed in their ear just seconds before she quickly jerked their head to the side, snapping their neck like it was nothing.

With an unusual amount of care Mercy eased their corpse to the ground, crossing the agent’s arms over their chest and shutting their eyes. She smirked beneath her mask and whispered, “You are just one of many tonight, you shall be reunited with your fellow agents soon enough.”

Rising, Mercy continued up onto the bridge which crossed over the main road in. The bridge itself lead into another small interior section of the base, but it was not the door she wanted. But she was well aware she couldn’t just march into the door that Amélie and Jesse had passed through.

But the service door on the walkway above the main entrance  was looking to be a rather enticing way into the base. The two guards standing watch would be an issue however.

“Here we go.”

With her gloves flickering to life, Mercy reattached herself to the walls and began the climb upwards. She positioned herself above the guards, shifting around so her back was against the wall. They hadn’t seen her, not yet anyways but it wouldn’t take them long.

_3…_

_2…_

_1…_

In a second she released herself from the wall, flipping out a pair of knives as she dropped down behind them. They had heard her landing upon the walkway but reacted just a moment too late, one collapsing with a blade protruding from their heart and the other stumbling back into the door with a blade in their skull.

Mercy just scoffed and stepped over their corpses, kicking aside the man who blocked the door. She would have figured a passcode was necessary to enter, but she simply approached and the doors opened with a soft hiss.

“Idiots.”

Stepping into base, she walked slowly down the dark hallway. Keeping low as the sound of voices grew closer and closer, she was likely nearing the main room. Her only hope was that there were no patrolling guards.

“This is all the intel that Sombra and Reaper retrieved in regards to the experiments on Angela?” She was close enough now that she could make out the conversation.

“Indeed, we are about to find out what the hell they did to her and _hopefully -_ how to reverse it.”

Stepping out onto the upper floor, Mercy crept forward until she was peering down into the main room below. She saw immediately that Amélie, Jesse, Hanzo and Winston sitting around the console in the center.

“There are hundreds of files here, how are we supposed to find the files we need?”

A door opened on the other side of the room and Sombra rolled in on a wheelchair, Mercy scowled silently at the sight. Another traitor who had survived her wrath, she thought her attacks would have been enough to keep Sombra down for good. Wrong there again.

“You’re looking for anything labeled project ‘Caduceus’. That is what they named it. I got everything I could, codes, project photos and videos - the works. There is a lot to go through.” Sombra spoke up as she wheeled up to the table.

“Surely we can pick out the more vital data within this cluster.” Amélie muttered.

With a few taps to the digital keyboard, Sombra pulled up a 3D model of some sort of implant before them. She gestured at it and began, “This was surgically attached to Angela after their torture was finished and they had broken her. It is programmed to administer a dosage of drugs at certain intervals in order to ensure compliance with Talon.”

Sombra zoomed in on the top of the model, “That connects to the back of her neck and it houses the drugs they are using on her. It’s loaded with 3 vials and automatically rotates to the next full vial when she empties one. It only has to be reloaded once or twice every few months.”

She brought up various research notes and images, continuing on her tangent, “The head scientist was always going on about how the dosage administered _had_ to be exact, otherwise she would slowly slip out of their control. Become more independent, but…”

Sombra trailed off for a second and turned her gaze up towards Amélie, frowning before she continued, “I was the one who programmed it. But I did so with an error in the code _intentionally._ It is set to dose her with exactly ten milligrams of their drug every thirty hours, except coded? I dropped it to eight and a half.”

“A change so small they wouldn’t be able to tell you had tampered with the code at all. Nor would they have even bothered checking.” Hanzo remarked, scanning the digital notes and model with a furrowed brow.

Sombra snapped her fingers, “Exactly. It was enough to keep her compliant for a time, but eventually it stopped working. She killed Icarus and the others once enough of her free will had returned.”

Jesse scratched his head and huffed out, “So what exactly is the plan here? How can we correct this?”

Amélie spoke in Sombra’s place, having pieced it together as Sombra had been explaining it, “With the right dose, she was a compliant weapon for Talon. Less drugs gave her back her free will, but she was still Mercy. So if the doses on the back of her neck were to be destroyed or run out, without the drugs…”

“You’d start to get Angela back in control, slowly.” Sombra finished.

Mercy reached back and trailed her fingers along the implant on the back of her neck, a cold rage brewing in her veins at the weakness so accessible to Overwatch. And now they knew that they could exploit it successfully.

If she had left any of those poor scientists alive, she would have planned on offering up some rather harsh punishments for their stupidity. Trying to correct this mistake would have to take priority however.

“Only problem is, her drugs were refilled about 2-3 weeks ago. She is not due for another refill for about 2 months or more.”

Amélie frowned and cursed, Jesse took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. Tension brewed in the room and Mercy could sense it pouring off of them in waves. Like they had gotten their hopes up for simply another roadblock.

Sombra sighed, “And judging how bad Reaper says he tore into her, they may have updated her cybernetics. She might be more machine than human now. Which makes it all that much harder.”

“We wouldn’t be enough to keep her occupied while we waited for the drugs to wear out, too many lives would be lost.”

Shifting on her feet, Mercy was careless and her metal arm brushed against the nearby desk. Causing a low clink to echo through the room, loud enough that Amélie’s amber eyes shot over to gaze in her direction. But Mercy was shrouded in the darkness of the upper floor, there was no way Amélie was able to see her.

_...Right?_

Her focus was pulled back to the table when Winston spoke up, “Do not worry, let us search these files and see what else we can find.”

For several hours, they worked to flip through all the information they could. Mercy watched in dread at the footage of the once proud Angela Ziegler being broken splinter by splinter into an empty shell by Talon’s cruel hand. It was too much, too much pain to come crawling back into her head.

And she wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“May I be excused? I do not think I could stomach seeing or hearing anymore of this tonight.” Amélie stated, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Winston nodded and Amélie turned away from the table, marching back through the far doors. The rest of the group however was quick to return to their work while Mercy herself slunk back into the darkness.

She wouldn’t take them on four against one, she was going to pick them off piece by piece. Hurrying from the room and back to the exterior, walking freely into the storm still raging outside.

Talon had done so much, much of it had been lost to Mercy but just mention of the torment and the implants brought much flooding back.

Control was slipping, a lot faster than Mercy had anticipated and something inside her was calling out. Begging her to do one simple thing. Without another word, she listened to that nagging voice within and was off.

When she found herself in the base again, she was in barracks of the best Overwatch agents. One wrong move here and she would have every single one of them on her in a flash.

Stalking forward down the hallway, Mercy stopped when she came to an open door and carefully peeked inside. Hana Song, the name flickered through her mind when she saw the young girl still awake at such an hour and playing games.

She could kill her, it would be one of her easiest tonight. But that voice inside was pulling her away, she would deal with the others _after._ Footsteps coming up the hall towards her made her stop, around the corner at the other end came Amélie herself.

Mercy moved quickly, pulling herself through the doorway and stepping back outside into the storm just moments before Amélie had lifted her light to shine it on the door.

“Now I am seeing things, _great._ ”

Sliding her key card into the door, she stepped within the threshold of her room and let out a weary sigh. Amélie dropped her coat into the nearby chair and headed directly to the bed in the center of the room.

So much had to go into bringing Angela back, and a small part of her doubted it was even possible to do at this rate. She had seen Mercy, seen the evil she had wrought upon their fellow agents.

Running a hand down her face, Amélie prepared to collapse into the soft sheets and let sleep claim her for the night. If she thought anymore on this tonight it would drive her mad. However, in that moment a loud clap of thunder cracked through the sky and the subsequent flash of lightning lit the room up, she stopped in her tracks.

She blinked, staring out the window of her quarters and out onto balcony. The light had illuminated _something_ but whatever it was, it was no longer there.

“It is just in my head, playing _tricks._ Remember that, you fool.”

Another flash proved her wrong.

There was _someone_ outside.

Amélie, wide eyed and trembling, carefully approached. Sliding open the door. Stepping out onto the balcony to stare at the figure standing there in the dark of night. Rain pattered against the glass window behind her, the soft sound accompanied by the idle tapping of steel fingers drumming against the railing.

“Angela…”

“Do not use that name, _Lacroix_.”

Fidgeting nervously, Amélie stepped forward and stared down at the metal hand. Something inside her ached, burning with the _need_ to just touch Angela. To know that this woman was really here, it was something to ground her to the reality.

So she went for it.

Reaching out to take hold of the icy metal hand, she reveled in the moment when steel met flesh. _God was it ever freezing,_ so cold that Amélie felt as if all warmth had been sapped from her body in an instant. Not even the rain falling down on them, soaking them both was as cold as that blackened metal.

Hands that had once been so warm, so full of life and kindness. They were now nothing but cold, pale and simply... _dead._ But Amélie’s moment of silent reverence was cut short as that hand was torn out of her grasp.

“Get your hands off of me.”

Amélie recoiled immediately, the anger that radiated off of Angela was tangible and _raw._ Fiery. She swore she could feel it dancing across her skin as sure as she could feel the raindrops sliding down her arm. The purple light that flickered to life from within cast a glow onto Amélie, the light reflecting off of the droplets dotting her skin.

Then she saw it, the _blasted_ cybernetics. Attached to her jaw and throat, a price paid when Reaper had seen to tearing her apart with his shotguns. Mercy tilted her head side to side as if she knew they were being inspected.

This wasn’t Angela, this wasn’t who she was _meant to be_ . Ziegler had a purpose to achieve, a far greater purpose and she had a family to love -- Overwatch was her home. This darkness that had consumed her, this _evil_. It was never meant to happen.

_It was wrong, immoral._

“Look at what they have done to you, Angela. How far have you fallen because of them? _Because of Icarus?”_

“You have no idea what or who you speak of now. The right to comment on what Icarus has _done to me_ is no longer yours, you lost that when you abandoned her.”

Mercy whirled around suddenly, her metal hand clasping around Amélie’s jaw and squeezing painfully. Frosted touch burned into her skin, forcing her head back until Amélie found rain hitting her face and rolling down her cheeks.

“You remember that, _don’t you,_ Lacroix? You left her to _die.”_

_Her?_

_What did she mean?_

Tighter, those metal fingers clawed into Amélie’s jaw and seared a rage so powerful into her skin. Mercy leaned in close, snarling into her ear.

“What I am now...it is simply the price that is owed, the suffering that guilt demanded.”

 _“_ I didn’t _want_ to leave you Angela, I wanted to stay and pull you from that rubble. Don’t you understand? _I care about you_.”

Mercy scoffed, pushing away from her and snapping back, “No, you care about _her._ Not me.”

“You are one in the same, can’t you see that?”

Her words went on ignored and Amélie let a growl fall from her lips, the frustration boiling over in her chest. She rubbed at the spot where the metal hand had been just moments before, her voice sharpening despite the despair in her chest.

“ _Why the fuck are you here?”_

Mercy stopped then, her metal hand curling around the railing. Why was she here? What had the voice inside her wanted when it urged her to sneak to Amélie’s quarters when her job was to simply kill everyone?

“I-.”

“Why the _fuck_ are you here? _Why?_ You’re obviously not Angela anymore… don’t you have to run around being Talon’s _obedient bitch?”_

The railing bent under the strength of Mercy’s grip, Amélie did still seem to enjoy infuriating her so.

“I just...I _had_ to come here.”

Amélie sighed.

“But _why?”_

Mercy shook her head, forcing herself to put distance between them. But Amélie was not letting her off that easily, a hand shooting out to grab her arm. The metal hummed beneath her palm; Amélie forced her shaking hand to tighten its hold. She wasn’t letting Mercy go.

_Angela if you’re in there, please...come back._

“The leader of Talon...Icarus _is dead.”_ Angela replied, much like she was diverting the topic of conversation.

“I am well aware. Sombra informed us.”

“Then you also know that I can do the same thing to you, I could right now and I wouldn’t even blink. That is what I was sent here to do.”

The hand on her arm moved to the side of her face, the touch was something she could just barely feel against the armor. _Like it was numbed._ There was a pressure on her cheek, forcing her to turn her head towards Amélie.

“Yet you haven’t.”

When violet eyes met gold, Mercy felt an aching deep within her chest. It burned, like a fervent need for something. _For Amélie._ The last bit of light that she knew was buried beneath the darkness creeped out for the briefest of moments.

And Amélie seemed to notice it.

“Angela. You don’t have to stay with Talon anymore, that _man_ can’t hurt you anymore…you freed yourself! Don’t you see it?”

_Was she free?_

“Come home to us, _Ziegler.”_

Home.

Free…?

These things…

No, they were not possible. Mercy knew Angela would not be safe. Not after what Overwatch had done to her. Mercy had to protect her, no matter the cost.

“There is no freedom, not for us.”

Mercy forced herself back from Amélie with a harsh shove, her eyes narrowing through the heavy downpour of rain that had begun.

“Angela, please... _I know you’re in there.”_ Amélie pleaded hopelessly, trying _anything_ to coax the woman still buried inside Mercy’s head.

A scowl came from Mercy.

“She is, Lacroix. But you _cannot have her._ You abandoned her, left her to meet a fate worse than death…”

With a step forward, Mercy backed Amélie up into the window. The metal hand clenching into a fist, slamming against the glass directly next to her head. Each second of silence was followed by a soft crack as the window slowly gave way to the pressure.

“I was there to protect her when you refused to be. _She screamed_ for you to save her, until her throat ran raw and dry. I will not ever let you take her from me, I will _never_ let you or anyone else hurt her again.”

Amélie let out a broken sound, her resolve finally cracking much like the window she leaned against. Her voice, it was her last desperate cry out to the Angela Ziegler she once had known.

“ _Angela, I’m so sorry.”_

“Sorry won’t bring her back, you should know that better than anyone.”

One second Mercy was there, but as quickly as Amélie blinked, she was nowhere to be seen. All that was left to mark her presence there was the cracking glass window that Amélie slumped against.

Sliding down the window until she sat on the soaked balcony, Amélie buried her face in her hands and made no sound. A pain burned in her chest much like the pain that throbbed in her jaw, but she was so numb. The icy cold rain soaking into her skin and bones, everything was just so cold.

_Just like Mercy had been._

“I...I’m so, so sorry…”

Mercy had not gone far however, she watched from the roof nearby as Amélie sat there in rain. Inside, she felt that piece of her calling out to the woman and begging for Mercy to just _go to her._ To let herself be healed.

With a grunt, the doctor forced that part down. She turned away from the base and started walking along the cliffside towards the rendezvous.

“Pilot, bring in the ship. We’re getting out of here.”

They had started to speak but she tore the earpiece from her ear and tossed it from the cliffs. Each step brought her closer to a fate she could so easily anticipate, towards an end to it all. Akande would surely kill her for not going through and holding up her end of the bargain.

But she had no intention of going down without a little more vengeance of her own first. For if neither Talon or Overwatch were on her side then she would all too gladly set them both ablaze and watch them burn to ash around her.

She would make an order of the chaos, and leave none to stand against her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im VERY excited about everything thats about to happen :) ))


End file.
